by: Denis Chabrol
(Demerara Wave) – As the United States (US) prepares to deploy air and naval forces to the Southern Caribbean sea to address threats from Latin American drug cartels, Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday referred to the Cartel de los Soles, also known as Cartel of the Suns, is masquerading as Venezuela’s government and posing threat to American oil companies in Guyana.
“The Maduro regime is not a government, is not a legitimate government. We never recognised them as such. They are a criminal enterprise that basically has taken control of a national territory, of a country and who, by the way, are also threatening US oil companies that are operating lawfully in Guyana,” Mr Rubio told reporters at the State Department. The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on July 25, 2025 designated Cartel de los Soles as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
OFAC said Cartel de los Soles is a Venezuela-based criminal group allegedly headed by Mr Maduro and other high-ranking Venezuelan individuals in the Maduro regime that provides material support to foreign terrorist organizations threatening the peace and security of the United States, namely Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel.
Mr Rubio had earlier this year, during a visit to Guyana, warned the Maduro-led dictatorship of stern action if he opted to invade Guyana to take over the Essequibo Region or attack ExxonMobil’s operations in Guyana’s waters. A Venezuelan Naval vessel had earlier this year entered the Stabroek Block and informed several vessels operating for ExxonMobil that they were in Venezuelan waters that had not yet been delimited with Guyana.
