The United States formally designated on Monday the Cartel of the Suns, an organization of which very little is known and which Washington links to the Venezuelan Army and Government leadership, as a foreign terrorist group (FTO).
After advancing it this weekend, the U.S. State Department confirmed the official designation of this organization as an FTO with a publication in the Federal Register, which gives the Administration of President Donald Trump additional tools to increase pressure on the government of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.
Meet terrorist group criteria
According to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, “there is sufficient evidence to determine” that the group meets the conditions outlined in the Immigration and Nationality Act governing the classification of FTOs.
That rule states that an FTO must be a foreign group engaged “in terrorist activities or terrorism.”
And that it must “threaten the safety of U.S. citizens or the national security of the United States.”
Including in the areas of defense, foreign relations or economic interests.
Last July, the Treasury Department listed the Cartel of the Suns as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Group (SDGT).
Although the Venezuelan government stated at the time that this organization is an “invention” of Washington.
In full pressure against Maduro
Although US authorities claim that the Cartel of the Suns is a group composed mainly of Venezuelan military personnel (the name allegedly comes from the insignia worn by the generals) since the 1990s, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) inquiries were not made official until March 2020, during Trump’s first term in office.
It was then that the Department of Justice formally recognized the existence of this group.
He assures that it is headed by Nicolás Maduro and his Interior Minister, Diosdado Cabello.
This appointment coincides with the intensification of Trump’s pressure strategy on his Venezuelan counterpart.
Through a growing military deployment in the southern Caribbean that the White House says it is seeking to combat drug trafficking.
The U.S. military operation has resulted in the summary destruction of some 20 boats believed to be loaded with drugs and the death of 83 of their occupants.
With information from EFE
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