US drops accusation that Maduro leads drug trafficking “cartel”

The United States government itself dismantled one of its most publicized accusations against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. In a reformulated complaint, released after the capture of the Bolivarian leader, the US Department of Justice retreated from the allegation that he commanded an alleged drug trafficking cartel called “Cartel de los Soles”, implicitly recognizing that the thesis is not legally supported nor presents concrete materiality.

Accusation without evidence falls to the court itself

The original version of the complaint, presented in 2020 during the first Trump administration, cited the “Cartel de los Soles” 32 times and described Maduro as the head of a transnational criminal organization. In the new indictment, the term appears only twice and is no longer treated as a structured cartel, with its own hierarchy, command and operations.

In practice, prosecutors began to define the “Cartel de los Soles” as a generic expression for a “patronage system” or a “culture of corruption”, abandoning the idea of ​​a real organization — an essential element to sustain the charge of narcoterrorism.

Specialists dismantle official narrative

International analysts in organized crime and drug trafficking have always pointed out the weakness of the accusation. According to these experts, “Cartel de los Soles” is a slang term created by the Venezuelan press in the 1990s to refer, ironically, to military personnel corrupted by drug money — an allusion to the suns present on the generals’ insignia.

Official reports from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) never recognized the existence of such a cartel, nor mentioned it as a relevant criminal organization on the global stage.

Terrorist designation loses legitimacy

The Justice Department’s retreat casts even greater doubt on the Trump administration’s decision to classify the “Cartel de los Soles” as a foreign terrorist organization in 2025. These administrative designations do not need to be proven in court — unlike a formal criminal charge.

Read more: Maduro pleads innocent in the US and says he is a “prisoner of war” in NY

Government officials knew they wouldn’t be able to prove this in court. The correction made now exposes the political nature of the original accusation.

Inflated language to justify intervention

Despite the judicial reformulation, members of the US government continue to publicly repeat the narrative already refuted in the records. Secretary of State Marco Rubio once again referred to the “Cartel de los Soles” as a real cartel, even after the Department of Justice itself abandoned this characterization.

The episode highlights how inflated and legally fragile language was used to support sanctions, military actions and Maduro’s own capture.

Venezuela is not the central axis of global trafficking

Independent studies also relativize Venezuela’s weight in international drug trafficking. The country is not a major drug producer and acts, at most, as a secondary transit route for cocaine, mostly destined for Europe — not the United States. Most of the cocaine that reaches North American territory passes through the Pacific, a route to which Venezuela does not even have geographic access.

By retreating from the accusation that Maduro led a non-existent cartel, the United States government itself highlights the fragile, political and legally inconsistent nature of a narrative that was used to justify sanctions, diplomatic pressure and military intervention widely questioned by international law.