Marco Rubio accused Maduro of leading a criminal organization in Venezuela

The government of the United States reinforced its stance toward the Venezuelan regime next weekend by formally declaring the Cártel de Los Soles a transnational terrorist organization.

The measure, taken by the Department of the Treasury through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), is part of a policy of direct confrontation with chavismo, which Washington accuses of profiting from drug trafficking and contributing to hemispheric instability.

In line with this policy, Senator Marco Rubio stated on the social network X that Nicolás Maduro “is NOT the president of Venezuela and his regime is NOT the legitimate government”.

According to Rubio, the chavista leader heads “a narco-terrorist organization that has taken over a country” and faces accusations of introducing drugs into United States territory.

Cártel de Los Soles has been the subject of investigations since the 1990s, when links were detected between high-ranking Venezuelan military officials and drug trafficking networks. The criminal structure, originally focused on collecting bribes, evolved into direct participation in drug trafficking, with proven connections to the FARC and Mexican cartels such as Sinaloa.

Figures such as Hugo Carvajal and Henry de Jesús Rangel Silva were identified for their collaboration in these activities during the governments of Hugo Chávez.

In 2020, the United States Department of Justice filed drug trafficking and money laundering charges against Maduro, Diosdado Cabello, and other senior regime officials. Since then, the United States administration keeps that the chavista leadership uses state resources to operate a criminal network with continental reach. In 2024, Tareck El Aissami was arrested for corruption linked to the state oil company PDVSA.

Meanwhile, United States authorities warn about the advance of the criminal group Tren de Aragua, linked both to the Cártel de Los Soles and the Sinaloa Cartel. This group already operates in at least a dozen U.S. states, with activities including extortion, human trafficking, and armed violence.

“The United States administration considers Cártel de Los Soles to act as a transnational terrorist group and criminal organization”, stated the Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs, and warned that “all available resources will be used to prevent Nicolás Maduro from continuing to profit from the destruction of American lives and the destabilization of our hemisphere”.

The statements coincide with the municipal elections being held this Sunday in Venezuela, in which 335 mayors and 2,471 councilors will be elected. The electoral day is taking place under strict control of the National Electoral Council (CNE), dominated by the ruling party, in a context of high abstention promoted by the opposition.

More than 21.5 million Venezuelans are eligible to vote in a process questioned by the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), which denounces arbitrary detentions of at least ten opposition mayors and forced replacements of authorities by regime-aligned figures. According to opposition leader María Corina Machado, “chavismo was left alone at the polls” and governs through repression and fear.