The U.S. government has designated the group known among Venezuelans as the Cartel de los Soles as a “terrorist organization,” marking Washington’s latest effort to put pressure on President Nicolás Maduro as the United States considers military action on land.
On November 16, the U.S. State Department announced that starting today, it would add Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns), the Venezuelan term for corrupt officials, to the list of “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” (FTOs). The United States claims that this “cartel” is overseen by Mr. Maduro himself.
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U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an interview with One America News on Friday that the designation “opens up a whole new set of options for the United States,” adding that the U.S. government does not consider Maduro to be a legitimate leader.
The U.S. government maintains that the Cartel de los Soles is overseen by the Venezuelan president and includes members of his inner circle, including the military, but Maduro denies any personal involvement in drug trafficking or even that the alleged cartel exists.
In a statement responding to the move, Venezuela’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the action was an “absurd lie” used to justify future military intervention.
What is Cartel de los Soles?
The US State Department alleges that the Cartel de los Soles, along with the Venezuelan criminal organization Torren de Aragua, is involved in large-scale drug trafficking operations in the US and Europe.
According to think tank Insight Crime, the name Cartel de los Soles emerged in the 1990s when Venezuelan generals and senior officers who wore the sun insignia on their epaulets were investigated for drug trafficking and related crimes.
Jeremy McDermott, co-director of Insight Crime, told CNN that the cartel is “not a traditional vertical drug trafficking organization. It’s…a series of typically disconnected cells embedded within the Venezuelan military.”
Despite claims by President Donald Trump’s administration, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration never described the Cartel de los Soles as a drug trafficking organization in its annual National Drug Threat Assessment, and it is not listed in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s Global Narcotics Report.
What does the “terrorist” designation mean?
Although there is no universally accepted definition of a drug cartel, the term generally refers to centrally controlled criminal organizations that operate across borders and use violence to profit from illegal activities.
The U.S. Treasury has previously sanctioned Cartel de los Soles, but the new FTO designation gives the U.S. government even more authority to take action against cartels.
The designation makes any “assistance” to the Cartel de los Soles a crime and bars its representatives from entering the United States. Therefore, it is now a crime to provide funds to groups. It could also prevent foreign companies from doing business with the Venezuelan state due to suspected ties to the military.
The new classification also allows for diplomatic and financial penalties such as asset freezes against groups.
Importantly, the FTO designation strengthens the political and legal basis for U.S. military action in Venezuela, presenting ostensible counter-narcotics operations as part of a broader campaign for regime change, analysts said.
Why did the US government take this action?
The Trump administration has taken an increasingly hard line against Maduro, who claimed re-election in January despite allegations of fraud. Caracas has banned María Colina Machado, Maduro’s main political rival, from running for office.
The U.S. government has carried out a series of military attacks against Venezuelan fishing vessels it says are conducting drug trafficking in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, but it has not shared evidence that Maduro was directly involved in drug trafficking. However, the President of Venezuela is the head of the Cartel de los Soles, and he It is related to Torren de Aragua.
In July, President Trump’s National Security Adviser and Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Maduro of being the “leader of the Cartel de los Soles, a designated narco-terrorist organization” and responsible for “drug trafficking to the United States and Europe.”
In August, the U.S. government increased the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest from $25 million to $50 million. But characterizing Maduro as a drug lord is seen by many, and by Maduro himself, as a way for the United States to remove him from power.
In October, President Maduro accused the United States of “fabricating a new war… (and) an extravagant story, a vulgar, criminal and completely false story.” President Maduro’s comments came on the heels of President Trump’s announcement that he had authorized CIA operations in Venezuela.
Maduro said he believed President Trump was seeking to reshape the political landscape in the Caribbean. If Maduro were to be ousted, U.S. political opponents in Cuba and Nicaragua would lose access to subsidized Venezuelan oil, which could destabilize the country, he said.
What military actions did the United States take?
Since September, the United States has carried out a series of airstrikes against suspected drug-trafficking vessels off the coasts of Venezuela and Colombia, killing at least 83 people in the largest military deployment to the Caribbean in decades.
Meanwhile, Washington has dispatched several warships to the Caribbean in recent weeks, including the nuclear-powered supercarrier Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest and most advanced naval aircraft ship.
But Mark Cancian, senior adviser for the Defense and Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the carrier was not designed for Trump’s mission as described.
“The Ford is not well suited for anti-drug operations. … It is well suited for attacking enemies at sea or on land,” he wrote in his analysis on Nov. 14 in X.
This show of force is reminiscent of the U.S. government’s long history of military intervention and coup abetting throughout Latin America, often motivated by fear of hostile forces close to U.S. borders.
Tensions have dominated relations between Washington and Caracas in recent decades, since the rise of Maduro’s leftist predecessor Hugo Chávez. Relations deteriorated further after Mr. Maduro came to power following Mr. Chávez’s death in 2013.
What happens next?
President Trump said he has decided “to some degree” on what to do in Venezuela, but has not yet announced a decision.
Asked last week about the possibility of sending U.S. troops to Venezuela, Trump said: “I’m not ruling that out. I’m not ruling anything out. We’re just going to deal with Venezuela.”
On November 16, he told reporters that he “might have some talks” with Maduro and that “Venezuela would like to have talks,” but gave no details.
Six international airlines suspended flights to Venezuela over the weekend after the United States warned airlines of “potentially dangerous conditions” inside and outside the country.
