Understanding the US Terrorist Designation of Cartel de los Soles

Mon Nov 24 2025 20:13:13 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

The Cartel de los Soles, linked to Venezuela's military elite and accused by the US of drug trafficking, has been labeled a terrorist organization, sparking controversy and debate about its existence and influence.

The United States recently designated the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization, claiming it is led by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his inner circle. This designation grants the US government greater powers to combat the group, which it alleges is entangled in corruption and narco-trafficking. The Venezuelan government vigorously denies the existence of the cartel, calling the US accusations a fabrication. Experts suggest that the truth involves a complex interplay of organized crime and political motive.

The United States has designated the Cartel de los Soles (Spanish for Cartel of the Suns) - a group it alleges is headed by Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro, and senior figures in his government - as a foreign terrorist organisation.

Labelling an organisation as a terrorist group gives US law enforcement and military agencies broader powers to target and dismantle it.

In recent months, the US has been ramping up pressure on Maduro, saying his government is illegitimate following last year's election, which was widely dismissed as rigged. The designation gives it another way to turn up the heat.

But questions have been raised as to whether Cartel de los Soles actually exists, and Venezuela's foreign ministry has categorically, firmly, and absolutely rejected the designation, which it describes as a new and ridiculous lie.

Venezuela's interior and justice minister, Diosdado Cabello, has long called it an invention. He accused US officials of using it as an excuse to target those they do not like. Whenever someone bothers them, they name them as the head of the Cartel de los Soles, he said in August.

Gustavo Petro, the left-wing president of Venezuela's neighbour, Colombia, has also denied the cartel's existence. It is the fictional excuse of the far right to bring down governments that do not obey them, he wrote on X in August.

However, the US State Department is adamant that the Cartel de los Soles not only exists but that it has corrupted Venezuela's military, intelligence, legislature, and judiciary. Experts consulted by the BBC say the truth lies somewhere in between.

The term Cartel de los Soles first emerged in the early 1990s, coined by Venezuelan media in response to drug-trafficking allegations against military officials.

Mike LaSusa, an expert in organised crime, explains that the group's activities started in the late 1980s as Colombia's drug cartels began to collapse, pushing Venezuelan officials to form alternative trafficking routes.

According to LaSusa, the Cartel de los Soles operates not as a traditional cartel with a formal hierarchy but as a widespread system of corruption benefitting those with military authority.

US officials assert that the cartel's influence permeates the upper echelons of the Venezuelan government, implicating Maduro, Cabello, and other top officials in drug trafficking.

The appointments of former high-ranking officials are cited as corroborative evidence of the cartel's existence, despite ongoing denials from the Venezuelan government.

Maduro and Cabello remain in Venezuela, with the US increasing its rewards for information that could assist in their arrest.

Venezuela's government has long characterized the US drug-trafficking allegations as an unfounded pretext to justify intervention in its sovereignty, labeling the Cartel de los Soles designation a ridiculous fabrication.