US Designates Maduro-Led “Cartel of the Suns” as Foreign Terrorist Organization

In a major escalation of its maximum pressure campaign against the Venezuelan government, the United States Department of State has officially designated the “Cartel of the Suns” (Cartel de los Soles) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), effective today, November 24, 2025. The designation explicitly identifies Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and high-ranking members of his regime as the leaders of this criminal enterprise, legally categorizing the sitting head of state as a terrorist leader under U.S. law.
The State Department’s announcement asserts that the cartel is not merely a criminal gang but a state-embedded network that has “corrupted Venezuela’s military, intelligence, legislature, and judiciary.” It accuses Maduro and his inner circle of using state resources to traffic cocaine into the United States and Europe, often working in concert with other designated terrorist groups such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Venezuelan-born Tren de Aragua.
“Neither Maduro nor his cronies represent Venezuela’s legitimate government,” the State Department bulletin reads. “The United States will continue using all available tools to protect our national security interests and deny funding and resources to narco-terrorists.”
This legal maneuver significantly expands the Trump administration’s rules of engagement. By labeling the Venezuelan government’s leadership structure as a terrorist organization, the White House unlocks a new tier of legal authorities that go beyond traditional sanctions. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that the move provides “a whole bunch of new options” for the Pentagon, potentially including the targeting of the cartel’s logistical infrastructure—which, in this case, overlaps with the Venezuelan state’s military and transport assets.
The designation comes amidst a tense standoff in the Caribbean, where the U.S. Navy has amassed a significant strike force under the banner of counter-narcotics operations. While the FTO label does not automatically authorize a full-scale invasion, it effectively strips sovereign immunity defenses from Maduro’s officials in U.S. courts and allows for the prosecution of anyone providing them with “material support.”
Critics and regional experts have noted that the “Cartel of the Suns” is a nebulous term often used to describe generalized corruption within the Venezuelan military rather than a hierarchical cartel in the traditional sense. However, Washington’s decision to codify it as an FTO signals a shift from diplomatic isolation to treating the Venezuelan state as an active national security threat, raising fears that kinetic strikes on “terrorist assets” inside Venezuela could be imminent.