The United States has emphasized that it will use all resources to prevent the Maduro Administration from benefiting from organized crime and terrorism. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons.
Guacamaya, November 24, 2025. This Monday, the State Department’s designation officially came into effect, classifying the so‑called “Cartel of the Suns,” whose leadership is attributed to Nicolás Maduro, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). The formalization of the measure, announced days earlier, sparked controversy both in national and international political spheres.
The Ministry of Interior was the first official body to respond, issuing a categorical statement rejecting the designation and labeling it an “infamous and vile lie” designed to justify an “illegitimate” intervention against Venezuela. Foreign Minister Yván Gil explained that this action is part of a “classic U.S. format” that will be repeated with the same failure.
Meanwhile, Diosdado Cabello, First Vice President of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), in the party’s customary weekly press conference, dismissed the designation, stating that the United States “invents a different nonsense every day.” He added that the so‑called Prolonged Active Resistance remains vigilant to overcome “adversities.”
The regional bloc ALBA‑TCP, allied with Maduro, also expressed strong rejection through a statement, calling the measure an act based “on a grotesque lie” intended to escalate violence in the region. ALBA‑TCP urged the United States to cease its “policy of aggression” against the region and reaffirmed its “unconditional” support for President Nicolás Maduro.
For his part, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez described the measure as “an invention of the U.S. government” to justify military aggression and asserted that the true intention of the country is “to seize Venezuela’s oil.” Rodríguez denounced Washington’s strategy as a return to the “gunboat policy” in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Regarding other international positions, countries such as Argentina, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and Paraguay have expressed support for the designation initially made by the Treasury Department. Although they have not commented on the State Department’s current designation, their positions align with confronting drug trafficking and terrorism associated with the Cartel of the Suns.
On the other hand, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reiterated her constitutional stance of rejecting intervention and stressed that peace and dialogue must prevail. Meanwhile, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Sunday that he will speak with Trump to avoid a conflict with Venezuela. “The military apparatus that the U.S. placed in the Caribbean Sea worries me greatly,” he added.
The designation of the so‑called Cartel of the Suns, which the government and its allies consider a non‑existent group, adds to the maximum pressure strategy maintained by the United States against Nicolás Maduro’s government. This occurs amid a context of sharp regional and global polarization, where political responses reinforce divisions and confrontation in Latin America.
