Trump DOJ Admits Venezuela's 'Cartel De Los Soles' Isn't An Actual Organization

A major plank in the Trump administration's case for military intervention in Venezuela is looking thinner today, as the Department of Justice has retreated from the notion that captured President Nicolas Maduro was the head of an organized drug cartel called Cartel de los Soles. The DOJ now says the term "Cartel de los Soles" is merely descriptive of a "culture of corruption" fueled by the illegal drug trade.

This isn't semantics: Both the Treasury and State Departments had officially designated the non-existent group as a terrorist organization. The latest development seems to at least partially confirm doubts raised by outside observers and lend credence to denials by the Venezuelan government. In November, the country's foreign minister said he "absolutely rejects the new and ridiculous fabrication" by which Secretary of State Marco Rubio had "designated the non-existent Cartel de los Soles as a terrorist organization."

The retreat from the idea that Cartel de los Soles is an actual organization was apparent in the DOJ's filing of a superseding (updated) indictment. The previous indictment referred to the supposed cartel 32 times, naming Maduro as its chief. The new one only mentions the term twice, and says it's only descriptive of a "patronage system" and a "culture of corruption" propelled by drug money. That's consistent with the fact that the DEA's annual National Drug Threat Assessment has never mentioned any "Cartel de los Soles" in its cataloguing of major traffickers.  

In July, the Treasury sanctioned Cartel de los Soles as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist," claiming it was a "criminal group headed by...Maduro." The "cartel" was accused of providing material support to two groups already on U.S. terrorist lists: Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua. Of course, those terrorist designations are themselves controversial, with critics saying the government is purposefully conflating criminality and terrorism. The latter term has long been understood to describe violence directed at civilians with the goal of achieving a political or ideological goal. Historically, exaggerated use of the term has largely been confined to the left.   

Elizabeth Dickinson, deputy director for Latin America at the International Crisis Group, said the new indictment properly uses "Cartel de los Soles" -- essentially a slang term. "But the [terrorist] designations are still far from reality. Designations don’t have to be proved in court, and that’s the difference. Clearly, they knew they could not prove it in court,” she told the New York Times. Despite the DOJ's retreat, Rubio was still using the same rhetoric on Sunday, referring to "Cartel do los Soles" as a "criminal organization," with Maduro the "leader of that cartel." 

There was something important missing altogether from the superseding indictment: While cocaine is mentioned 67 times, there isn't a single reference to fentanyl, a drug the administration and allied Venezuela hawks repeatedly referenced in justifying the demolition of alleged Venezuelan drug-boats, and the broader drive for regime change. All along, critics pointed out that Venezuela has never been a meaningful producer or conduit of fentanyl, which is something even the DEA will tell you. 

After the raid on Venezuela, Vice President JD Vance attempted to counter ridicule of the administration's claimed drug-related motives  -- much of which is coming from the growing, non-interventionist segment of the American right. "Cocaine, which is the main drug trafficked out of Venezuela, is a profit center for all of the Latin America cartels. If you cut out the money from cocaine (or even reduce it) you substantially weaken the cartels overall. Also, cocaine is bad too!" 

Comparing Trump's rhetoric to that of George W. Bush in the run-up to the Iraq invasion, Maduro last year accused the administration of crafting "a bizarre narrative," since it couldn't accuse Venezuela of hiding weapons of mass destruction. In December, Maduro's comparison grew more apt when Trump creatively declared illicit fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals to be "weapons of mass destruction."  While many MAGA conservatives who repudiate the Iraq war and other neocon interventions have been cheering on Trump's Venezuela raid, some may be starting to find the parallels are stronger than they're comfortable with.