The Justice Department has quietly abandoned its long-standing claim that Venezuela’s so-called “Cartel de los Soles” is a formal drug trafficking organization, retreating from an assertion that played a central role in the Trump administration’s case against President Nicolás Maduro.
The shift emerged over the weekend with the release of a revised indictment following Maduro’s capture, according to reporting by The New York Times.
Why It Matters
The change undermines one of the most serious allegations used by the U.S. government to justify sanctions, terrorist designations, and ultimately military action against Venezuela’s leadership.
For years, U.S. officials publicly described Cartel de los Soles as a centralized criminal organization led by Maduro. Acknowledging that the cartel does not exist as a formal group raises questions about the evidentiary basis for past designations and rhetoric, even as prosecutors continue to accuse Maduro of drug trafficking.
What to Know
The original claim dates back to a 2020 federal indictment that portrayed Cartel de los Soles as an organized narcotics group allegedly run by Maduro and senior Venezuelan officials. That language was later echoed in U.S. sanctions and terrorism designations, including a 2025 Treasury Department action labeling the cartel a foreign terrorist organization, as outlined in Treasury Department sanctions documents.
In July 2025, the State Department formally designated Cartel de los Soles as a terrorist group, a move announced in an official State Department release.
However, the revised indictment released after Maduro’s arrest reframes Cartel de los Soles not as an organization, but as a “patronage system” and a “culture of corruption” involving civilian, military, and intelligence officials enriched by drug trafficking. The new filing sharply reduces references to the term and no longer describes Maduro as the cartel’s leader, according to the Justice Department’s updated indictment.
Experts say the term itself originated decades ago as slang used by Venezuelan media to describe corrupt officials, rather than a structured criminal enterprise.
What People Are Saying
Elizabeth Dickinson, deputy director for Latin America at the International Crisis Group, said the revised indictment aligns with longstanding expert assessments.
“The new indictment gets it right,” Dickinson told the Times, adding that previous designations did not require courtroom proof. Her background and work with the group can be found via the International Crisis Group.
Despite the Justice Department’s shift, senior administration officials have continued to publicly describe Cartel de los Soles as an active organization. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated that characterization in a recent interview, stating that the U.S. reserves the right to strike drug trafficking operations linked to the cartel.
Independent drug-tracking institutions have never recognized Cartel de los Soles as a trafficking organization. The Drug Enforcement Administration’s annual National Drug Threat Assessment does not list it, nor does the United Nations’ World Drug Report.
Jeremy McDermott, co-founder of InSight Crime, criticized the revised indictment for linking Maduro to Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua prison gang, saying the allegation reflects political rhetoric more than intelligence findings. His organization’s analysis is detailed in InSight Crime’s investigation.
