Venezuela rejects ‘ridiculous’ US plan to designate Cartel de los Soles as terrorist organization
(Reuters) -The Venezuelan government on Monday rejected a “ridiculous” U.S. plan to designate the “non-existent” Cartel de los Soles as a terrorist organization, ahead of Washington’s expected announcement later in the day.
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier this month that his country would designate the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) for its alleged role in importing illegal drugs into the United States.
Claiming that the cartel consists of high-level officials, the Trump administration accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of leading the group, but he denied this. The move comes as Maduro faces growing pressure from US President Donald Trump through a massive US military buildup in the Caribbean. Some concerns have also been raised that the United States could use the group’s name to justify military action, although sanctions experts say the law does not allow such a move.
Maduro and his government have always denied criminal involvement and accused the United States of seeking regime change out of its desire to control Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said in a statement on his Telegram account: “Venezuela categorically, unequivocally and absolutely rejects the new and ridiculous fabrication of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which defines the ‘non-existent Sun Cartel as a terrorist organization.'”
It was stated that the measure “revives a disgraceful and despicable lie to legitimize the illegitimate and illegal intervention against Venezuela under the classic US regime change format.” “This new maneuver will share the same fate as previous and repeated attacks against our country: failure.”
Reuters reported on Saturday that the United States was ready to launch a new phase of Venezuela-related operations in the coming days, but the news organization could not determine the exact timing or scope of the new operations or whether Trump had made a final decision to take action.
In July, the U.S. Treasury Department designated the Cartel de los Soles as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist,” a reference to the sun insignia worn by Venezuelan generals; this was a move that froze all assets in the US and generally prohibited Americans from dealing with it.
InSight Crime, an organization that analyzes organized crime, said in August that it would be an “oversimplification” to say Maduro heads the cartel and said it is “more accurately described as a system of corruption in which military and political officials profit by working with drug traffickers.”
(Reuters news)
