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** Cartel of the Suns Terrorist Designation is a Gamechanger
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Jeremy McDermott, Co-Director
28 NOV, 2025
On Monday, November 24, the US government officially designated the Cartel of the Suns as a “foreign terrorist organization.” We’ve written a lot about these designations this year, but this one is different.
Contrary to the US narrative, the Cartel of the Suns ([link removed]) is not a drug-trafficking organization but a blanket term for factions within Venezuela’s armed forces linked to smuggling, corruption, and cocaine trafficking.
And its designation represents the merging of two wars, the drug war and that against terrorism.
Since January, the Trump administration has designated over a dozen Latin American criminal groups as foreign terrorist organizations ([link removed]) (FTO) — the biggest addition since the list was created in 1997.
To use counterterrorism resources against criminal organizations marks a major policy change in Washington. While politically-motivated armed groups and profit-driven criminal organizations may cooperate and rely on similar illicit tactics, their core motivations differ — and so should the responses to them.
The Trump administration appears keen to challenge established strategy in the fight against transnational organized crime and political opponents alike in the region. Fusing the wars on drugs and terror provides a deeper toolbox, one now employed alongside the economic pressure of tariffs and sanctions.
Venezuela is currently the litmus test for Washington’s new toolbox. Unprecedented naval and military resources are drifting off the coast of Venezuela, and maximum pressure ([link removed]) is being applied. President Trump has described Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro as "one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world" and offered an unprecedented $50 million reward for his capture.
Time may well be on Maduro’s side. Trump may threaten military action ([link removed]) , but there is little appetite in the United States for another war or a prolonged state-building endeavor. We’ll be analyzing the effectiveness of this new crime-terror strategy in Venezuela in the coming weeks and months, and reporting back with more.
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Take a closer look at the standout stories from Latin America and the Caribbean that crossed our desk this week:
OnTheRadar (#OnTheRadar) | Editor’s Pick (#Editors-pick) #Editors-pick | Don’t Miss (#Dont-Miss) | In the Spotlight (#In-The-Spotlight) | Audio (#Audio)
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#OnTheRadar ()
** This Week in Organized Crime ([link removed])
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◉ ([link removed]) [link removed] Trump administration labeled the Cartel of the Suns a terrorist organization. ([link removed])
◉ ([link removed]) Allegations of state collusion with armed groups and the conviction of a former president’s brother for paramilitary ties underscore Colombia’s ongoing struggles with armed groups. ([link removed])
Watch this Reel ([link removed])
#Editor’sPick ()
Investigations > ([link removed])
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** The Pros and Cons of a US Intervention in Venezuela ([link removed])
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The world has been watching for weeks to see if the United States will escalate its militarized anti-drug mission in the Caribbean into a direct intervention aimed at toppling the regime of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, prompting intense debate about the wisdom and potential impacts of such an action.
Read more ([link removed])
< Criminal Profiles ([link removed])
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** In the Spotlight ()
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** Cartel of the Suns ([link removed])
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The Cartel of the Suns is a catch-all name for networks inside Venezuela’s armed forces with ties to smuggling, corruption, and high-stakes cocaine trafficking.
** This week, the US State Department labeled the Cartel of the Suns a terrorist organization — a move that reinforces the misconception that the term refers to a structured drug trafficking group rather than scattered corruption within the Venezuelan government.
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** Don’t Miss ()
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🔗 How Industrial-Scale Crypto Laundering Sustains Mexico’s Synthetic Drug Trade ([link removed])
🔗 What’s Behind Costa Rica’s ‘First’ Transnational Criminal Organization? ([link removed])
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** #Audio () 25 NOV, 2025
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** The Shifting Tides of Drug Trafficking on Venezuela’s Margarita Island ([link removed])
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How US missile strikes have impacted one Caribbean island known for drug trafficking.
Play ([link removed])
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