Secretary of State Marco Rubio has officially designated the Venezuelan Cartel de Los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization. While the designation was filed on November 16, the Federal Register shared the designation on November 24.
“Based upon a review of the Administrative Record assembled in this matter, and in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury, I have concluded that there is a sufficient factual basis to find that the relevant circumstances described in section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended, exist with respect to: Cartel de los Soles (also known as Cartel of the Suns),” the notice reads.
Announcing plans for the designation earlier this month, Rubio said the cartel is “headed by Nicolás Maduro and other high-ranking individuals of the illegitimate Maduro regime who have corrupted Venezuela’s military, intelligence, legislature, and judiciary.” He explained, “Neither Maduro nor his cronies represent Venezuela’s legitimate government. Cartel de los Soles by and with other designated FTOs including Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel are responsible for terrorist violence throughout our hemisphere as well as for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe.”
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil Pinto condemned the designation, declaring that the country “categorically rejects the new action of the United States Department of State, which designates the non-existent ‘Cartel of the Suns’ as a ‘terrorist organization’ and intends to falsely link it to the Venezuelan State, to justify aggression against the South American country and force a change of government.”
