The Trump administration is set to designate Venezuela’s “Cartel of the Suns” as a foreign terrorist organization, a move that escalates pressure on President Nicolás Maduro. However, the group is not a traditional drug cartel but a label for a vast, state-sponsored corruption network.
The term “Cartel of the Suns” emerged in the 1990s to describe high-ranking Venezuelan military officers enriched by drug trafficking. Under the late Hugo Chávez and his successor Maduro, the term expanded to encompass a broad system of corruption involving government officials, police, and illicit activities like illegal mining. The “suns” refer to the epaulettes on generals’ uniforms.
This designation is part of a broader campaign that includes a massive military buildup in the Caribbean and airstrikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats. It follows a 2020 U.S. Justice Department indictment of Maduro and his inner circle on narcoterrorism charges.
Analysts caution that the “Cartel of the Suns” is not a formal organization. “It’s not a group that people would ever identify themselves as members of,” said Adam Isaacson of the Washington Office on Latin America. “They don’t have regular meetings. They don’t have a hierarchy.” Instead, it represents a shadowy structure of state-coordinated crime, making the terrorist designation a significant and unconventional step in U.S. policy.
By James Kisoo
