US officials took a Venezuelan phrase for corrupt leaders as a real organization, accusing Maduro of being its head<\/b>
\nThe Department of Justice significantly reduced reference to the Cartel de Los Soles in an updated indictment of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro who has been charged \u201cwith narco-terrorism conspiracy\u201d 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 \u201cpatronage system\u201d and removed the explicit reference that these officials are literal members of the cartel.
The phrase, meaning \u201cCartel of the Suns\u201d in English, was coined by Venezuelan journalists in the 1990s as shorthand for leaders corrupted by drug money \u2014 not an actual cartel. The name refers to the sun symbols on many high-ranking official\u2019s 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 \u201cexposes the illegitimate Maduro regime\u2019s facilitation of narco-terrorism through terrorist groups like Cartel de los Soles.\u201d
Rubio spoke on NBC\u2019s 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.
\u201cWe 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,\u201d he said. \u201cOf course, their leader \u2014 the leader of that cartel \u2014 is now in U.S. custody \u2026 and that\u2019s Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.\u201d
Sen. John Cornyn wrote on X Jan. 3, \u201cMaduro 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.\u201d
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said in a press conference following a briefing Monday, \u201cthe Maduro regime functioned as a criminal organization masquerading as a government \u2026 these activities were done in coordination with designated narco-terrorists and transnational criminal organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n