The Department of Justice significantly reduced reference to the Cartel de Los Soles in an updated indictment of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro who has been charged “with narco-terrorism conspiracy” and other charges. Maduro pleaded not guilty to the charges Monday.
The original 2020 grand jury indictment mentioned the Cartel de Los Soles 32 times and referred to Maduro as its head. The amended indictment, released on Saturday, only includes the phrase twice and now describes it as a “patronage system” and removed the explicit reference that these officials are literal members of the cartel.
The phrase, meaning “Cartel of the Suns” in English, was coined by Venezuelan journalists in the 1990s as shorthand for leaders corrupted by drug money — not an actual cartel. The name refers to the sun symbols on many high-ranking official’s uniforms.
Nevertheless, the Cartel de Los Soles was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the Department of State in November 2025. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the designation on following Department of Treasury sanctions announced earlier in the year.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent levied the sanction in July and said it “exposes the illegitimate Maduro regime’s facilitation of narco-terrorism through terrorist groups like Cartel de los Soles.”
Rubio spoke on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday and continued to refer to Cartel de Los Soles as an actual organization headed by Maduro, though the amended indictment was released a day prior.
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“We continue to reserve the right to take strikes against drug boats that are bringing drugs towards the United States that are being operated by transnational criminal organizations, including the Cartel de los Soles,” he said. “Of course, their leader — the leader of that cartel — is now in U.S. custody … and that’s Nicolás Maduro.”
Sen. John Cornyn wrote on X Jan. 3, “Maduro was not only an illegitimate President of Venezuela, he was the head of the Cartel de los Soles, a major drug trafficking network involving high-ranking Venezuelan military officers and government officials.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said in a press conference following a briefing Monday, “the Maduro regime functioned as a criminal organization masquerading as a government … these activities were done in coordination with designated narco-terrorists and transnational criminal organizations.”
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