Cartel de los Soles: What to know about group connected to Maduro

(NewsNation) — With Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s capture and indictment, his connection to an alleged terror group is also coming into the spotlight.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday said, “Maduro is the head of the Cartel de Los Soles, a narco-terror organization which has taken possession of a country. He is under indictment for pushing drugs into the United States.”

In November, President Trump ramped up pressure on Maduro by designating the Cartel de los Soles as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization.” The action was done as part of the Trump administration’s escalating campaign to combat drug trafficking into the U.S.

“Based in Venezuela, the Cartel de los Soles is headed by Nicolás Maduro and other high-ranking individuals of the illegitimate Maduro regime who have corrupted Venezuela’s military, intelligence, legislature, and judiciary,” the U.S. Department of State said in a release announcing the designation. “Neither Maduro nor his cronies represent Venezuela’s legitimate government.”

Along with the designation, Trump also ordered a massive military build-up in the Caribbean Sea and struck boats accused of trafficking drugs, killing more than 80 people.

What is the Cartel de los Soles?

The “Cartel de los Soles” is a term Venezuelans started using in the 1990s to refer to high-ranking military officers who had grown rich from drug-running.

The organization’s activities started as a response in the late 1980s to developments in Colombia, the world’s largest producer of cocaine. It’s stranglehold of Venezuela developed during the early years of the presidency of Hugo Chávez, the socialist leader who led the country from 1999 to his death in 2013.

“It is not a group,” said Adam Isaacson, director for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America organization. “It’s not like a group that people would ever identify themselves as members. They don’t have regular meetings. They don’t have a hierarchy.”

U.S. prosecutors have alleged Maduro has led and administered the organization since 1999.