The Venezuelan government rejected on Monday the US plan to declare the non-existent drug cartel "Cartel de los Soles" a terrorist organization, defining Washington's plan as "absurd", Reuters reported, BTA reported.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said recently that the State Department will include the alleged drug cartel "Cartel de los Soles" on the list of "foreign terrorist organizations". US officials have accused the "Cartel de los Soles" of working with the transnational criminal organization "Tren de Aragua" to send drugs to the United States.
The administration of US President Donald Trump claims that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is the leader of the "Cartel de los Soles". Maduro, as well as his government, has always denied any connection to crimes of such a nature and accuses the United States of seeking regime change in Caracas to control Venezuela's vast oil reserves, Reuters notes.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has increased pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by officially declaring the "Cartel de los Soles" a foreign terrorist organization, the Associated Press reported. The agency notes that the organization that Washington claims is led by Maduro is not a cartel in the true sense of the word.
The decision to declare the "Cartel de los Soles" a foreign terrorist organization, published today in the Federal Register (the US government newspaper), is the latest measure in the Trump administration's escalating campaign to combat drug trafficking in the US. When presenting the measure about a week ago, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused the "Cartel de los Soles", which translates to "Cartel of the Suns", of being "responsible for terrorist violence" in the Western Hemisphere.
Venezuelans began using the term "Cartel de los Soles" in the 1990s as a collective term to refer to senior military officials who had made a fortune from the drug trade. As corruption became more widespread throughout the country, first under President Hugo Chávez and then under Maduro, the term began to be used to refer to police and government officials, as well as to activities such as illegal mining and fuel trafficking. The word "soles", or "suns" used in the term, refers to the epaulets of Venezuelan army generals' uniforms, which display their officer rank instead of the traditional stars and suns.