U.S. to designate Maduro-linked Cartel de los Soles as terrorist organization

The United States intends to designate Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said the group is led by Nicolás Maduro.

“Headed by the illegitimate Nicolás Maduro, the group has corrupted the institutions of government in Venezuela and is responsible for terrorist violence conducted by and with other designated FTOs as well as for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe,” Rubio said in a statement on Sunday.

In July, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Cartel de los Soles as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization, describing it as a Venezuela-based criminal group that provides material support to foreign terrorist organizations, including Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel.

According to OFAC, Cartel de los Soles is based in Venezuela and is led by Maduro and other senior political and military figures who corrupted parts of the armed forces, intelligence services, legislature, and judiciary to facilitate narcotics trafficking into the United States.

The cartel takes its name from the sun insignias on the uniforms of Venezuelan military officials.

The announcement from Rubio comes as the United States expands Operation Southern Spear, a campaign targeting what the administration describes as “narco-terrorists” in the Western Hemisphere, with strikes launched since September against alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.

U.S. Southern Command said Sunday that the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group has joined other U.S. naval and air assets already operating in the Caribbean Sea under Joint Task Force Southern Spear, amid growing reports that potential U.S. strikes could expand to targets inside Venezuela.