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’…

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