US Designates Maduro’s Cartel de los Soles as Foreign Terrorist Organization

The State Department will designate Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) effective November 24, marking the Trump administration’s most aggressive move yet against President Nicolás Maduro’s regime. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the designation Sunday, alleging the cartel is headed by Maduro and high-ranking Venezuelan officials who have corrupted the nation’s military, intelligence, legislature, and judiciary to traffic narcotics into the United States and Europe.
The designation, announced via press statement and social media, escalates Washington’s campaign against what it calls narco-terrorism in the Western Hemisphere. “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,” Rubio stated. The Treasury Department previously designated the group as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in July 2025 for providing material support to Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel.
The FTO designation unlocks powerful legal tools, making it illegal for U.S. persons to knowingly provide support and allowing the government to block assets. It also permits the State Department to deny visas to cartel members and exposes foreign financial institutions that conduct business with the group to U.S. sanctions. The move follows the July designation and represents a significant escalation in the administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign.
The Trump administration alleges the cartel’s name derives from the sun insignias on Venezuelan generals’ uniforms and that it operates as an informal criminal organization involving dozens of high-ranking military officials. InSight Crime has documented 123 active and retired officers implicated in cocaine smuggling, though experts dispute claims of centralized coordination under Maduro. The cartel has allegedly facilitated multi-ton cocaine shipments from Colombia’s FARC to the United States and Europe, with possible Cuban assistance.
International reaction is split. Ecuador, Paraguay, Argentina, and the Dominican Republic have followed the U.S. lead, designating the group as terrorists. Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro dismissed the allegations as a “fabricated pretext to force regime change,” while Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum requested supporting evidence. The Colombian Senate defied Petro, voting 33-20 to declare the Cartel de los Soles a transnational criminal and terrorist organization.
The designation comes as the Trump administration weighs military action against Venezuela. President Trump told reporters Sunday he is considering talks with Maduro, stating “Venezuela wants to talk” while maintaining “we’ll see how that turns out.” The comments followed the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to the Caribbean for Operation Southern Spear, which has killed at least 83 people in anti-drug strikes.
Trump’s contradictory messaging—threatening strikes while hinting at diplomacy—reflects the administration’s dual-track approach. The FTO designation could serve as legal justification for targeting Maduro directly while oil-for-peace negotiations remain on the table. Maduro has offered private concessions on Venezuela’s 300 billion barrel oil reserves to avoid confrontation, a deal Trump initially rejected but may reconsider.
The designation effectively labels Venezuela’s president a terrorist, dramatically escalating the legal and rhetorical framework for potential intervention. With the Ford and 15,000 U.S. troops positioned in the region, the FTO label provides the administration with expanded authorities to act against what it considers a state-run narco-terrorist enterprise.