The US has formally labeled the ‘Cartel of the Suns’, a purported criminal syndicate said to operate within Venezuela’s security services, as a foreign terrorist organization – placing it in the same category as Al-Qaeda and Islamic State.
Announcing the decision on Thursday, the US Treasury repeated long-standing allegations that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose legitimacy Washington disputes, leads the network.
The move comes after nearly two months of US airstrikes on small boats off Venezuela’s coast, which the Pentagon says are aimed at “narcoterrorism” and which have left around 80 people dead.
The term ‘Cartel of the Suns’ originated in the 1990s as a media reference to alleged corruption among Venezuelan military officers who reportedly wore Sun-shaped insignia on their uniforms. In 2020, the US indicted Maduro and 14 current or former officials on accusations of drug trafficking and organized crime, claiming that they collectively ran the cartel.
Numerous analysts and regional leaders, however, have cast doubt on the cartel’s existence. While acknowledging that individual officials may be involved in illicit schemes, skeptics argue that claims of a centralized, hierarchical criminal enterprise are unfounded.
Justice Minister Diosdado Cabello, one of the Venezuelan officials charged by the US, said the Americans label anyone who “bothers them” as cartel members. Colombian President Gustavo Petro dismissed the Cartel of the Suns as a “fictional excuse of the far right to bring down governments that do not obey them.”
During US President Donald Trump’s first term, Washington recognized opposition figure Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, though his subsequent attempts to overthrow Maduro failed.
The recent US strikes in the Caribbean, combined with a buildup of military assets in the region, have fueled speculation that Washington may be preparing for a renewed effort to remove Maduro from power.
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