The United States has designated Cartel de los Soles, a Venezuela-based criminal group headed by the country’s dictator Nicolas Maduro and other high-ranking Venezuelan individuals in the Maduro regime that provides material support to foreign terrorist organizations threatening the peace and security of the United States, namely Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel.
"Maduro is the leader of the designated narco-terrorist organization Cartel de Los Soles, and he is responsible for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe," said Secretary of State Marco Rubio. "Maduro, currently indicted by our nation, has corrupted Venezuela’s institutions to assist the cartel’s criminal narco-trafficking scheme into the United States."
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on July 25 designated the Cartel de los Soles as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. This action “further exposes the illegitimate Maduro regime’s facilitation of narco-terrorism through terrorist groups like Cartel de los Soles,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
This cartel has provided material support to Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel. Tren de Aragua is a foreign terrorist organization that originated in Venezuela and is involved in the illicit drug trade, human smuggling and trafficking, extortion, sexual exploitation of women and children, and money laundering, among other criminal activities.
The Sinaloa Cartel is a foreign terrorist organization and one of the oldest and most powerful cartels in Mexico, responsible for a significant portion of deadly drugs trafficked into the United States from Mexico. In addition to trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and other illicit drugs into the United States, the Sinaloa Cartel is engaged in widespread violence.
As a result of the U.S. Treasury action, all property and interests in property of the designated person described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons is blocked and must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC.
“The Treasury Department,” said Secretary Bessent, “will continue to execute on President Trump’s pledge to put America first by cracking down on violent organizations including Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa Cartel, and their facilitators, like Cartel de los Soles.” [VOA/VP]
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