It will be possible due to the declaration as a “terrorist organization” of the Poster of the Sunsa group of drug traffickers allegedly made up of Venezuelan soldiers and which, according to the US, leads Nicolas Maduro.
Like in the wild west movies, The US offers 50 million dollars for the head of the Chavista leader since last August. On that occasion they also accused him of having formed alliances with the Tren de Aragua, the most feared criminal gang in Venezuela, and the Sinaloa Cartel, in order to “introduce lethal drugs and violence” into the North American nation.
“He is one of the biggest drug traffickers in the world,” the attorney general said in August, Pam Bondi, in the same video in which he offered the reward and warned that “under the Presidency of Donald Trump“, Maduro was not going to “escape from Justice.”
Until just a month ago, that statement seemed like a dead letter, but the largest deployment of US troops in the Caribbean since the first Persian Gulf War (1990-1991)it seems make Maduro tremble.
Comes into effect today
The rope will be tightened even more this Monday. The Secretary of State already warned, Marco Rubiothis Sunday, by confirming that Trump will appoint the Cartel of the Suns, whose name refers to the king star with which Venezuelan officers identify themselvesas a “foreign terrorist organization.” It takes effect from today.
“Neither Maduro nor his associates represent the legitimate Government of Venezuela. The Cartel of the Suns, along with other designated foreign terrorist organizations, including the Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel, are responsible for terrorist violence throughout the hemisphere, as well as drug trafficking to the United States and Europe,” the State Department said in a statement.
The change means crossing a great legal chasm, since, until now, the DEA was responsible for acting on the Cartel de los Soles as a drug trafficking group, but, being classified as a terrorist, can act both the Treasury Department and the Pentagon.
The first can block assets in the United States or third countries, but the newly renamed War Department can now launch military actions and mobilize intelligence assets.
Additionally, the Department of Justice has the ability to issue specific arrest warrants.
Therefore, the US Government already has a legal shield that allows it to put into operation the nearly 12,000 troops deployed in the Caribbean and led by the USS Gerald Fordthe largest and most advanced aircraft carrier in the world.
Sailing alongside it are 12 other Navy warships, including destroyers and amphibious ships.
The US Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, composed of the flagship USS Gerald R. Ford, USS Winston S. Churchill, USS Mahan and USS Bainbridge, sails through the Caribbean escorted by several fighters and a B-52 bomber.
Reuters
The convoy is completed by strategic bombers, SH-60R helicopters, combat aircraft, fighters and aircraft carrier support aircraft. US forces also have more than 700 missiles, in addition to about 180 long-range missiles Tomahawksfor ground attacks.
It is a type of deployment that vastly exceeds the capabilities necessary to combat drug trafficking. Furthermore, Venezuela does not play a fundamental role in the production or shipment of drugs to the United States.
Colombia and Peru are the largest producers of cocaine, while most shipping routes transit the Pacific, not the Caribbean.
Nor is it a deployment that can last over time. As retired Marine colonel explained Mark Cancian a EFE: “You don’t send one of your most important naval assets to stand around and walk around. You either use it or reassign it immediately.”
For this reason, like other experts, he considers that “the most likely thing is a missile attack against Venezuela.”
The Panamanian reference
The reference that is most repeated in the streets of Caracas since Maduro’s first term is the overthrow of the Panamanian dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega after the US invasion in 1989. On that occasion, the US also accused the president of having links to drug trafficking.
Of course, in Noriega’s case he had formal accusations of drug trafficking and money laundering by the US Justice Department that had been published almost a year and a half before the invasion.
On that occasion, as in 2025, the mission was not only the overthrow of Noriega. The then president George Bush Father said he wanted to safeguard the integrity of the Panama Canal Treaties and restore democracy.
It is a case very similar to that of Venezuela, where Maduro was proclaimed the winner of an election in 2024 without showing the electoral records. The opposition, gathered around the retired diplomat Edmundo González Urrutiasaid it had the minutes of more than 80% of the tables in the country.
He Carter Centerwho was an electoral observer, supported these minutes by presenting them to the Organization of American States (OAS) as proof of the transparency and veracity of the opposition.