WASHINGTON — The Trump administration could have expanded authority to take action in Venezuela starting Monday, as the US designates Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his government allies as members of a foreign terrorist organization.
The designation of “Cartel de los Soles,” a phrase that experts say is more a description of allegedly corrupt government officials than an organized crime group, as a foreign terrorist organization will authorize President Donald Trump to impose fresh sanctions targeting Maduro’s assets and infrastructure. It doesn’t, however, explicitly authorize the use of lethal force, according to legal experts.
Still, administration officials have been making the case that the designation — one of the State Department’s most serious counterterrorism tools — will give the US expanded military options for striking inside Venezuela.
Cartel de los Soles is used to describe a decentralized network of Venezuelan groups within the armed forces linked to drug trafficking, experts say. The Venezuelan president has always denied any personal involvement in drug trafficking, and his government has repeatedly denied the existence of the alleged cartel, which some experts suggest technically doesn’t exist in a conventional sense.
The designation, announced November 16, comes as the US military has amassed more than a dozen warships and 15,000 troops into the region as part of what the Pentagon has branded “Operation Southern Spear.” The US military has killed dozens of people in boat strikes as part of the anti-drug-trafficking campaign.
Trump has been briefed by top officials on a range of options for action inside Venezuela, including strikes on military or government facilities and special operations raids. The option of doing nothing also still exists.
There is some public opposition to US involvement in the region. According to a CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday, 70% of Americans oppose the US taking military action in Venezuela, compared with 30% who favor action. Seventy-six percent of respondents say the Trump administration has not clearly explained the US position on military action.
Officially, the Trump administration says it is working to cut down on illegal flows of migrants and drugs — but regime change is a possible side effect of those efforts. Trump is hoping that the pressure is enough to force Maduro to step down without taking direct military action, according to a US official.
Trump has expressed some openness to a diplomatic resolution, saying last week that Maduro “would like to talk” and later suggesting that he would be open to speaking with him “at a certain time.”
The White House did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment on the status of a potential Trump-Maduro conversation.
In a sign of the escalating tensions, the US on Thursday conducted its largest military display near Venezuela, as at least six US aircraft appeared off the nation’s coast over the course of several hours, including a supersonic F/A-18E fighter jet, a B-52 strategic bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, according to a CNN review of open-source flight data.
And over the weekend, three international airlines canceled their flights departing from Venezuela after the US Federal Aviation Administration warned major airlines of a “potentially hazardous situation” when flying over the country, according to Reuters. — CNN
