The Government of Venezuela This Monday he rejected the designation by the United States of the Cartel of the Suns as a terrorist group.
Through a statement, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry indicated that this “infamous and vile lie” seeks to justify an “illegitimate and illegal” intervention against Venezuela “under the classic American format of regime change.”
The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, announced on November 16 that, according to the Donald Trump Government, “there is a sufficient factual basis” that demonstrates that the Cartel of the Suns meets the conditions described in the immigration and nationality law that regulates the designation of a foreign terrorist group (FTO).
The US classifies the Cartel of the Suns as terrorists and links it to Caracas
The decision will allow military options amid Washington’s pressure on Venezuela
Nicolás Sánchez O’Donovan, international journalist, explains the true cause of this statement pic.twitter.com/G0QOO5ZEiZ
— RT in Spanish (@ActualidadRT) November 24, 2025
That rule establishes that an FTO must be a foreign group that engages “in terrorist activities or terrorism” and that must “threaten the security of American citizens or the national security of the United States,” which includes defense, foreign relations or economic interests.
This decision comes after the US Treasury Department already classified the Cartel of the Suns as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Group (SDGT) in July, although the Venezuelan Government asserted then that said organization is an “invention” of the United States.
Rubio believes that the Cartel de los Soles, and other designated FTOs, such as the Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel, are responsible for terrorist violence in the American hemisphere, as well as trafficking drugs to the United States and Europe.
What is the Cartel of the Suns?
Although US authorities assure that the Cartel of the Suns (a name that supposedly comes from the insignia worn by the generals) is a group made up mainly of Venezuelan soldiers since the 1990s, the investigations of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) were not made official until March 2020, during Trump’s first term, according to a report by EFE.
It was then that the Department of Justice recognized the existence of this group that, it claims, is headed by the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, and his head of the Interior, Diosdado Cabello.
Several airlines cancel their flights to Venezuela, after US alert
The designation of the cartel as FTO coincides with the intensification of Trump’s pressure strategy on Maduro through a growing military deployment in the southern Caribbean Sea.
The White House says it seeks to combat drug trafficking, which has led to the summary destruction of around twenty – what Washington claims are – drug boats and the death of 83 of their occupants, the Spanish agency says.
