CARACAS, Venezuela, Nov 24, (AP): US President Donald Trump's administration is set to ramp up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Monday by designating the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization. But the entity that the US government alleges is led by Maduro is not a cartel per se. The designation is the latest measure in the Trump administration's escalating campaign to combat drug trafficking into the US.

In previewing the step about a week ago, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, of being "responsible for terrorist violence” in the Western Hemisphere. The move planned Monday comes as Trump evaluates whether to take military action against Venezuela, which Trump has not ruled out despite bringing up the possibility of talks with Maduro.

Land strikes or other actions would be a major expansion of the monthslong operation that has included a massive military buildup in the Caribbean Sea and striking boats accused of trafficking drugs, killing more than 80 people. Venezuelans began using the term Cartel de los Soles in the 1990s to refer to high-ranking military officers who had grown rich from drug-running.

As corruption later expanded nationwide, first under the late President Hugo Chávez and then under Maduro, its use loosely expanded to police and government officials as well as activities like illegal mining and fuel trafficking. The "suns” in the name refer to the epaulettes affixed to the uniforms of high-ranking military officers.

The umbrella term was elevated to a Maduro-led drug-trafficking organization in 2020, when the US Justice Department in Trump's first term announced the indictment of Venezuela’s leader and his inner circle on narcoterrorism and other charges. "It is not a group,” said Adam Isaacson, director for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America organization.

"It’s not like a group that people would ever identify themselves as members. They don’t have regular meetings. They don’t have a hierarchy.” Up until this year, the label of foreign terrorist organization had been reserved for groups like the Islamic State or al-Qaida that use violence for political ends. The Trump administration applied it in February to eight Latin American criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking, migrant smuggling and other activities.