USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), F/A-18E/F Super Hornets were sent to Venezuela to pressure the country. On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization. Photo by MCSN Paige Brown/U.S. Navy/UPI | License Photo
The United States officially designated Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization Monday, allowing the White House more authority to impose sanctions.
The Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, is a decentralized network of government and military officials in Venezuela who engage in drug trafficking. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the designation on the Federal Register. It was posted Monday, but dated Nov. 16.
Last week, Rubio said in a statement, “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.”
The President Donald Trump administration has boosted tensions in Central and South America. On Feb. 20, he named eight cartels as terrorist organizations and designated them global terrorists.
He used the Alien Enemies Act in March and said that TdA was planning an “invasion” of the United States and said it was Maduro who was ordering it. He used this to speed detention and removal of non-citizens. Courts have since blocked the move.
The administration has also attacked alleged drug boats in the Pacific and Caribbean, killing about 80 people.
The U.S. military has added more than a dozen warships and 15,000 troops into the region. The Pentagon has called it “Operation Southern Spear.”
Last week, Maduro said, “this country is at peace, this country will remain at peace. And in the United States, whoever wants to talk with Venezuela will talk face-to-face, without any problem.”
