US admits that Venezuelan group ‘Cartel de los Soles’ is not real
The United States Department of Justice has backed away from a controversial allegation against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro that was promoted by the Trump administration last year as part of the strategy to pave the way for his removal from power: the accusation that he led a drug cartel called the Cartel de los Soles.
This allegation dates back to a formal indictment brought by a grand jury in 2020 against Maduro, drafted by the Department of Justice itself. In July 2025, by reproducing the language of that document, the Treasury Department classified the Cartel de los Soles as a terrorist organization. In November, Marco Rubio, President Donald Trump’s secretary of state and national security adviser, ordered the State Department to do the same.
Maduro in the USA: what are the next steps after the Venezuelan appears in court?
Maduro will undergo a new court hearing on March 17
Maduro pleads not guilty at hearing in New York federal court
Former Venezuelan president denies accusations of narcoterrorism, claims ignorance of rights and says he remains president of the country
Experts on crime and drug trafficking in Latin America, however, claim that the term is, in reality, a slang term created by the Venezuelan press in the 1990s to refer to authorities corrupted by drug money. And on Saturday, after the administration captured Maduro, the Justice Department released a rewritten version of the indictment that appears to tacitly acknowledge this point.
Prosecutors maintained the accusation that Maduro participated in a drug trafficking conspiracy, but abandoned the thesis that the Cartel de los Soles is an organization in the strict sense. Instead, the new indictment states that the term refers to a “system of patronage” and a “culture of corruption” fueled by proceeds from drug trafficking.
While the previous indictment mentioned the Cartel de los Soles 32 times and described Maduro as its leader, the new version makes only two references to the term and states that he, like his predecessor, former president Hugo Chávez, participated in, perpetuated and protected this system of patronage.
“The profits from drug trafficking and the protection of drug trafficking partners flow to low-level civilian, military and intelligence officials who are corrupt, who operate in a system of patronage commanded by those at the top — referred to as the Cartel de los Soles or Cartel of the Suns, a reference to the sun insignia affixed to the uniforms of high-ranking Venezuelan military officers,” the new indictment states.
The retreat casts further doubt on the legitimacy of the Trump administration’s decision to classify the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization last year.
