The United States on Monday formally designated Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organisation, layering additional terrorism-related sanctions on the group it has said includes President Nicolas Maduro and other high-ranking officials.
Venezuela’s government rejected what it called a “ridiculous” US plan to designate the “non-existent” group.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this month the US would designate Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO) for the network’s alleged role in importing illegal drugs into the US.
Maduro faces escalating pressure from President Donald Trump’s US military build-up in the Caribbean, raising concerns that the US may seek to use the designation to justify military action. Sanctions experts, however, have said the statute for the designation does not authorise such a move.
The US for months has waged a campaign of deadly strikes against suspected drug trafficking boats off the Venezuelan coast and the Pacific coast of Latin America.
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