LatinNews Daily - 25 November 2025

*The US State Department has designated Venezuela’s Cártel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO). The designation came into force yesterday after being published in the US Federal Register, having been first announced on 16 November. The US claims that the Cártel de los Soles is led by Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and its designation as an FTO could herald an escalation of US pressure against the Maduro administration amid speculation that the US is considering direct military action in Venezuela. In its 16 November statement the State Department said that “the Cártel 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” and that, along with other Latin American criminal organisations, it is “responsible for terrorist violence throughout our hemisphere as well as for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe.” It added that “the United States will continue using all available tools to protect our national security interests and deny funding and resources to narco-terrorists.” The Cártel de los Soles had already been sanctioned as a terrorist entity by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) in July.

End of preview - This article contains approximately 202 words.

Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article

Not a Subscriber?

Choose from one of the following options

• Subscribe
• Sign up for a one-time, 14-day trial