The United States government has designated what is known among Venezuelans as the “Cartel de los Soles” as a “terrorist organisation”, marking Washington’s latest effort to put pressure on President Nicolas Maduro as the US weighs up military action on land.
On November 16, the US Department of State declared that the Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, a term Venezuelans use to refer to officials engaged in corruption, would be added to the “foreign terrorist organization” (FTO) list from today. The US alleges the “cartel” is overseen by Maduro himself.
- list 1 of 4US adds Venezuelan ‘cartel’ to terror list as military threat rises
- list 2 of 4Venezuela: A not-so-covert CIA disaster in the making
- list 3 of 4Is Venezuela prepared for a US attack as Washington ramps up forces?
- list 4 of 4Colombia hails ‘historic blow’ after largest cocaine bust in a decade
end of list
Speaking to One America News on Friday, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the designation “brings a whole bunch of new options to the United States”, adding that Washington does not consider Maduro a legitimate leader.
While Washington claims Cartel de los Soles is overseen by the Venezuelan president and includes members of his inner circle, including in the military, Maduro denies any personal involvement in drug trafficking and even the existence of the alleged cartel.
In a statement responding to the move, Venezuela’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the action was a “ridiculous lie” used to justify future military intervention.
What is the Cartel de los Soles?
The US State Department alleges that the Cartel de los Soles, along with the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua criminal gang, is responsible for extensive drug-trafficking operations in the US and Europe.
According to the think tank InsightCrime, the name Cartel de los Soles emerged in the 1990s when Venezuelan generals and senior officers, who wore sun insignias on their epaulettes, were investigated for drug trafficking and related crimes.
Advertisement
Jeremy McDermott, codirector of InsightCrime, told CNN the cartel “is not a traditional, vertically organised drug-trafficking organisation. It is … a series of normally disconnected cells embedded within the Venezuelan military”.
Despite the allegations by President Donald Trump’s administration, the US Drug Enforcement Administration has never described the Cartel de los Soles as a drug-trafficking organisation in its annual National Drug Threat Assessment nor has the World Drug Report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
There is no universally accepted definition of a drug cartel, but the term generally refers to a centrally controlled criminal organisation that operates across borders and uses violence to profit from illegal activities.
While the US Department of the Treasury has previously sanctioned the Cartel de los Soles, the new FTO designation gives the US government more powers to take action against it.
The designation criminalises all “support” for the Cartel de los Soles and bars its representatives from entering the US. As such, it is now a crime to provide funds to the group. And due to its alleged links with the military, that could potentially prevent foreign firms from doing business with the Venezuelan state.
The new classification also authorises diplomatic and financial penalties against the group, such as freezing its assets.
Crucially, the FTO designation bolsters the political and legal case for US military action in Venezuela, presenting an ostensible counternarcotics effort as part of a broader campaign for a change in government, analysts said.
Why has the US government taken this step?
The Trump administration has adopted an increasingly hard line towards Maduro, who claimed re-election in January despite accusations of fraud. Caracas banned Maduro’s main political rival, Maria Corina Machado, from running.
Washington, which has carried out a string of military strikes on Venezuelan boats it alleges are trafficking drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, has not shared any evidence of Maduro’s direct involvement in drug trafficking. However, it continues to insist that the Venezuelan president is the head of the Cartel de los Soles and he is associated with Tren de Aragua.
In July, Trump’s national security adviser and secretary of state, Marco Rubio, accused Maduro of being “the leader of the designated narcoterrorist organisation Cartel de los Soles” and responsible for “trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe”.
Advertisement
In August, the US government raised its reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest from $25m to $50m. But its characterisation of Maduro as a drug kingpin is seen by many – and by Maduro himself – as a way for the US to unseat him from power.
In October, Maduro accused the US of “fabricating a new war … [and] an extravagant narrative, a vulgar, criminal and totally fake one”. Maduro’s comments followed Trump’s announcement that he had authorised CIA operations in Venezuela.
Maduro said he believes Trump is aiming to reshape the political landscape in the Caribbean. If he falls, Maduro said, then US political foes in Cuba and Nicaragua could lose access to subsidised Venezuelan oil and could be destabilised.
What military action has the US taken?
Since September, the US has carried out a string of air strikes on what it says are drug-trafficking boats off the coasts of Venezuela and Colombia, amounting to the largest military deployment to the Caribbean in decades and killing at least 83 people.
Meanwhile, Washington has dispatched several warships, including the nuclear-powered super-carrier USS Gerald R Ford, the world’s largest and most advanced naval aircraft vessel, to the Caribbean Sea in recent weeks.
But Mark Cancian, a senior adviser to the defence and security programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said the carrier is not designed for Trump’s mission, as described.
“The Ford is not well suited for counterdrug operations. … It’s well suited to attack adversaries either at sea or on land,” he posted in an analysis on X on November 14.
The show of force recalls a long history of military interventions and coup-mongering across Latin America by US governments, often motivated by fear of hostile powers close to US borders.
In recent decades, ties between Washington and Caracas have been dominated by tensions since the rise of Maduro’s left-wing predecessor Hugo Chavez. The relationship deteriorated further after Maduro came to power following Chavez’s death in 2013.
What will happen next?
Trump says he has “sort of” made up his mind about what to do in Venezuela but has not announced his decision yet.
Last week, when asked about the possibility of deploying US troops in Venezuela, Trump replied: “I don’t rule out that. I don’t rule out anything. We just have to take care of Venezuela.”
He told reporters on November 16 that “we may be having some discussions” with Maduro and “Venezuela wants to talk”, but he did not provide details.
Over the weekend, six international airlines suspended flights to Venezuela after the US warned carriers about a “potentially hazardous situation” in and around the country.
British Caribbean News
