The U.S. is going after Venezuela militarily because, under Nicolás Maduro, the country is a narco-state. Earlier, I explained how the Latin American drug cartels have evolved from loosely organized criminal organizations to hybrid military terrorist armies.
In that piece, I focused on powerful Mexican cartels.
Now, since much of President Trump’s military focus in the Caribbean is on Venezuela, I will describe the cartel that is actually led by the country’s illegitimate socialist dictator, Nicolás Maduro.
I will also explain how, for the Maduro regime, exporting drugs, crime, and chaos isn’t just a way to stay afloat. It’s part of a long-term effort, developed by Fidel Castro in Cuba, to undermine democratic governments and expand the influence of anti-U.S. forces across Latin America.
The “Cartel of the Suns” (Cartel de los Soles) was recently designated by the Trump administration as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). This cartel, along with related armed paramilitary and criminal groups, operates within the “hybrid criminal state” of Venezuela, working together with elements of the state and military forces.
These groups, including the international criminal prison gang, also designated as an FTO, Tren de Aragua (TdA), are integral to the regime’s security and control. In this way, the Venezuelan cartel isn’t just a hybrid narco terrorist army, but it operates as part of an entire hybrid narco military state.
The U.S. government has charged Nicolás Maduro himself as the cartel leader — and placed a $50 million bounty on his capture. According to court filings and public indictments, Maduro helped coordinate large shipments of cocaine produced by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), also an FTO.
The Maduro regime has supplied the FARC with military weapons and worked with traffickers in Honduras and elsewhere to move drugs through the region. He also oversaw the training of an armed militia force in Venezuela that functions as a paramilitary arm of the cartel.
As The Wall Street Journal reported: “What Venezuela does is facilitate the security, the logistics by the National Guard and the Army to move the cocaine out of the country,” said Alberto Romero, a former director of intelligence and counterintelligence of Colombia’s National Intelligence Directorate.
A top Venezuelan general and interior minister have been indicted and convicted in the U.S. for being drug traffickers. Hugo Carvajal, the former head of military intelligence, confirmed the involvement of other high-ranking military officials.
Carvajal just detailed what he knows about the Maduro narco-state in a letter to Trump.
Clíver Alcalá, a former major general who led a tragicomic “invasion’ to overthrow Maduro, pled guilty in the U.S. to aiding the FARC in Colombia.
Néstor Reverol, the former head of the National Anti-Drug Office (ONA) and later interior minister, was also indicted by the U.S. for tipping off traffickers about raids and obstructing investigations.
And Tareck El Aissami, a former vice president, was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for allegedly facilitating drug shipments.
The U.S. Department of Justice reports that “14 Current and Former Venezuelan Officials Charged with Narco-Terrorism, Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Criminal Charges.”
This system creates a complex, intertwined structure where the lines between state, military, and criminal organizations are blurred, making it a challenging hybrid threat for external actors to counter with conventional military or law enforcement approaches alone.
Let me break it down:
The Nature of the “Hybrid Military” Structure
Not a Single Cartel: The “Cartel of the Suns” is not a traditional, cohesive, hierarchical drug cartel. Instead, it is a diffuse network of corrupt military and political officials embedded within all branches of the Venezuelan state who profit from illicit activities, including drug trafficking, illegal gold mining, and contraband smuggling.
State-Embedded Criminality: Under the socialist criminal Nicolás Maduro, this has evolved into a system of “hybrid criminal governance,” where the international drug trade and criminal activities are used to secure political and military loyalty and keep the regime in power.
Proxy Forces: In addition to state security forces, the Maduro regime relies on non-state armed groups, such as the “colectivos” (collectives) and Colombian terrorist-guerrilla groups like the National Liberation Army (ELN). These groups function as de facto security forces in some regions, administering justice and regulating social order, effectively acting as state proxies.
Military Integration: The overall structure of forces in Venezuela involves a layered approach to security and repression, combining the regular armed forces (Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana), the Bolivarian National Guard, intelligence agencies, and the non-state actors named above. The regime has also integrated a civilian reserve force, the Bolivarian Militia, with millions of reported members.
Hybrid Warfare Tools: Trump’s actions are guided by expert understanding that the Venezuelan regime uses these criminal proxies, illegal drugs, and even forced illegal migration as weapons in a “gray zone war” or hybrid warfare to destabilize adversaries like the United States.
While Trump is emphasizing Venezuela’s role in drug smuggling, mass migration might be a bigger weapon of this hybrid narco state.
Nearly one quarter of Venezuelans — 7.7 million people — have left the country in a major humanitarian crisis. For the Maduro regime, it is a great opportunity.
Mass migration shifts the internal burden from Venezuela outward. It overwhelms schools, hospitals, and housing in countries that take its people in. It also opens space for organized crime groups such as Tren de Aragua. Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, and now the U.S. are suffering from it.
But this is part of a long-practiced strategy created by one of Maduro’s closest allies and mentors, communist Cuba. In 1965, Castro, the king of hybrid warfare, opened the port of Camarioca and let thousands leave — triggering the massive Freedom Flights to the U.S. Many who left were dissidents and regular exiles, but many were criminals.
In 1980, came the Mariel Boatlift, where over 125,000 Cubans came to the U.S., again including large numbers released from prisons and mental institutions, among the decent, hard-working Cubans who fled.
U.S. Response
This is why the U.S. has designated the “Cartel of the Suns” as an FTO, a move that gives the U.S. military many more legal options for action. “Operation Southern Spear” is targeting these drug-trafficking networks in the Caribbean and Pacific, resulting in lethal strikes on many narco vessels.
U.S. officials correctly argue that because these cartels are part of the Venezuelan regime, they are effectively “auxiliary attachment[s] to the regular armed forces” and thus legitimate military targets. The Trump administration has not ruled out military action on land inside Venezuela.
And if Maduro doesn’t leave soon, I would expect it.
The bottom line is that law enforcement and intelligence agencies, not to mention the media and the public, must stop viewing these Venezuelan international criminal groups like TdA as just gangs, or the Cartel de los Soles as just drug smugglers or traffickers.
They are integral parts of Venezuela’s irregular hybrid warfare effort. They are a proxy force operating across borders, spreading instability, crime, and chaos, while providing illicit funding for the regime.
They must be treated accordingly. We must use military force to dismantle the regime and all these networks that give it power, protection, and purpose.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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Great article, Paul. Like all of them.
I’m from Cuba originally, though a proud naturalized U.S. citizen. I know the Beast you describe: I lived in its entrails [to modify a comment from Jose Marti].
The Beast must be destroyed.
Or, it will destroy us.