The United States says that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is the leader of the Cartel of the Suns, an international terrorist group. Photo by Ronald Pena/EPA
Since Washington designated the “Cartel of the Suns” as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” group in late July and tightened sanctions against Nicolás Maduro, whom it identified as the group’s leader, several Latin American countries have taken positions about the escalating concern.
Ecuador was the first country in the region to align with the United States, issuing a decree Aug. 14 in which President Daniel Noboa classified the Cartel of the Suns as a “terrorist organization.”
Argentina’s Foreign Ministry then announced that President Javier Milei’s government had adopted the same position after reviewing “official reports confirming illicit transnational activities, including drug trafficking, smuggling and the illegal export of natural resources, as well as links to other criminal groups in the region.”
Paraguayan President Santiago Peña officially declared the cartel an “international terrorist organization” following a request from Paraguay’s Congress.
The Dominican Republic was the latest country to give the cartel the same designation, on Tuesday.
Trinidad and Tobago has voiced support for the regional effort against the Cartel of the Suns, but has not issued a formal legal designation. In Guyana, which has had diplomatic tensions with Nicolás Maduro’s government over the Essequibo territory, officials expressed concern about the rise of “transnational organized crime and narcoterrorism, which often involves criminal networks such as Venezuela’s Cartel of the Suns.”
In Peru, Foreign Minister Elmer Schialer expressed support for declaring the Cartel of the Suns a “terrorist organization.” Lawmakers in the Peruvian Congress have also introduced motions to do so.
However, Colombian President Gustavo Petro has publicly said the “Cartel of the Suns” does not exist, while the Venezuelan president himself has also denied the group’s existence.
On Aug. 7, the United States doubled its reward to $50 million for information leading to Maduro’s capture. By the end of the month, U.S. forces were deployed in the Caribbean, and on Sept. 1 the Venezuelan president warned he would declare a “republic in arms” if Venezuela were attacked.
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he ordered a “kinetic strike” on a boat carrying drugs from Venezuela to the United States that he said killed nearly a dozen members of the Tren de Aragua gang, capping weeks of military escalation and rhetoric.
Maduro has rejected U.S. accusations, saying Washington is using drug trafficking as a pretext for military intervention and to seize Venezuela’s oil.
According to a report by InSight Crime, the “Cartel of the Suns” is not a hierarchical organization, but rather an umbrella term used to describe trafficking and protection networks embedded in Venezuela’s armed forces and senior levels of government.
These networks operate like cells that shift with changes in command and political-military alliances, facilitating smuggling routes, ensuring impunity and, at times, taking part directly in the business in exchange for profits. It is a corruption system driven by money, not an ideological organization with “its own army,” the report said.
