Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Sunday the U.S. government would soon designate the Cartel de los Soles (“Cartel of the Suns”), an intercontinental drug trafficking operation run through the Venezuelan military, a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).

In his statement confirming the group would soon appear on the FTO list – triggering a devastating array of sanctions and blacklisting its members in the United States – Rubio stated explicitly that Washington believes the cartel’s leader is Nicolás Maduro, the socialist dictator of Venezuela.

“Based in Venezuela, the Cartel de los Soles is headed by Nicolás Maduro and other high-ranking individuals of the illegitimate Maduro regime,” Rubio’s statement read, “who have corrupted Venezuela’s military, intelligence, legislature,

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