The geopolitical tension surrounding Venezuela escalated dramatically today as Secretary of State Marco Rubio officially announced the U.S. State Department’s firm intention to designate the Venezuelan criminal network known as the “Cartel de los Soles” (Cartel of the Suns) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). This move, which marks a severe and consequential step in the Trump administration’s long-standing pressure campaign against the regime of Nicolás Maduro, is slated to become effective on November 24, 2025. This FTO classification is not merely symbolic; it represents a comprehensive legal and financial weaponization against a regime the U.S. government explicitly links to international narcotics trafficking and state-sponsored violence.
Secretary Rubio, in his address, was unambiguous about the alleged leadership of this organization. He stated that the Cartel de los Soles is not just a loose criminal association but a network allegedly headed by Maduro himself and other top officials of what the U.S. deems the “illegitimate Maduro regime.” According to the U.S. State Department, these high-ranking individuals have systematically corrupted Venezuela’s key institutions, including the military, intelligence apparatus, legislature, and judiciary, effectively transforming the country’s government into a narco-state. The consequences of this corruption, Rubio stressed, include “terrorist violence throughout our hemisphere” and the large-scale “trafficking of drugs into the United States and Europe,” directly implicating the Venezuelan state in global criminal enterprise.
A crucial and particularly concerning element of the designation is the reported operational alliances of the Cartel de los Soles. The State Department claims that the group functions “by and with” other established U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Specifically named in the briefing were the Tren de Aragua, a notorious Venezuelan transnational criminal gang known for extreme violence, and the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, a major Mexican drug trafficking organization. This alleged collaboration suggests a consolidated threat, where the Maduro regime is providing political protection and logistical access to some of the world’s most dangerous non-state criminal entities, thereby amplifying their reach and destructive capacity.
The designation as an FTO carries immense legal weight that transcends existing sanctions. It grants the U.S. government vastly expanded legal authority to pursue and target the cartel’s global assets, making it significantly easier to deny funding and crucial resources to the organization. Furthermore, the designation carries severe criminal penalties: any individual or entity in the United States found to be providing material support to the Cartel de los Soles will face prosecution, effectively shutting down any legitimate or quasi-legitimate fundraising channels they may have utilized. This move places the alleged criminal network, linked directly to the highest levels of Venezuela’s leadership, on the same list as groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS, a powerful political and legal statement.
This escalation is situated within a broader context of heightened U.S. military and economic pressure. The FTO announcement coincides with the current deployment of a massive U.S. naval presence in the Caribbean, including the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group, as part of an aggressive anti-narcotics operation. This military pressure has already seen the U.S. military conduct more than 20 successful strikes on suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific in recent months, operations which the U.S. directly attributes to targeting drug flows linked to Venezuela and resulting in fatalities. While the U.S. Treasury Department had previously imposed financial sanctions by designating the group as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity, the State Department’s FTO designation is a more comprehensive and severe measure, ensuring that the pressure on Nicolás Maduro and his associates will continue to intensify leading up to the effective date in November 2025.