Like Al-Qaeda, ‘Cartel de los Solace’ linked to Maduro has also been declared a terrorist organization.

The United States on Monday officially declared Cartel de los Solace a foreign terrorist organization. The Trump government has taken this decision with the aim of putting more pressure on Venezuela and its alleged drug-trafficking network. Experts are considering this notification posted on the website of the US Finance Ministry as one of the biggest actions taken by Washington. A week ago, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had held the Cartel de los Solace responsible for terrorist violence in the world.

This decision indicates that America can take more aggressive steps in its policy regarding Venezuela. President Donald Trump has repeatedly stressed that military action against Venezuela is among his options, even though he has also raised the possibility of negotiations from time to time. Any military attack or detailed operation could significantly increase the scope of American operations. In the past few months, the US has made a large military deployment to the Caribbean region and attacked ships believed to be involved in drug-trafficking, killing more than 80 people. Officials claim that these ships were operated by a cartel network, although the US has made public little evidence to support these claims.

What is ‘Cartel de los Soles’?

The term Cartel de los Soles was born in the 1990s. It was used to refer to senior Venezuelan army officers who were accused of earning big money through cocaine smuggling. This cartel got its name from the ‘Sun’ symbol (Sol) present on the military uniform. Over time, especially under the regimes of Hugo Chávez and later Nicolás Maduro, this network became more extensive. Today the term is used to describe senior military officers, policemen, intelligence agents and government leaders who have been accused of involvement in drug-trafficking, mining mafia, fuel smuggling and other illegal activities. In 2020, the US Department of Justice registered it as a Maduro-led narco-terrorism organization and filed charges against President Maduro and several of his close associates.

a big sign

Till now, America’s list of foreign terrorist organizations included only dangerous global terrorist groups like Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. But this year America changed its policy and in February it also included eight criminal networks of Latin America in this list. The addition of the Cartel de los Solace is a major signal that Washington is now viewing state-backed criminal networks as a global terrorist threat.

Venezuela’s strong opposition

Maduro government has issued a strong statement on this decision of America. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ivan Gil called the US allegations on Telegram a ridiculous fabrication. He wrote, Venezuela completely rejects this new and ridiculous lie fabricated by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in which a non-existent cartel is described as a terrorist organization. Gill described it as a conspiracy to topple and said that all such American attempts have failed in the past and this new attack will also fail.