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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. - The US Department of State said the Government intends to designate Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), effective November 24.
On the State Department's website, dated November 16, in the name of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was a release which said that Cartel de los Soles is based in Venezuela, and is headed by that country's President Nicolás Maduro.
The release said other high-ranking individuals of the "illegitimate Maduro regime" are also members of this cartel and that together with Maduro, they have corrupted Venezuela’s military, intelligence, legislature, and judiciary.
Neither Maduro nor his cronies represent Venezuela’s legitimate government, the release added.
"The Cartel de los Soles by and with other designated FTOs including Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel are responsible for terrorist violence throughout our hemisphere as well as for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe," the release said.
The United States will continue using all available tools to protect our national security interests and deny funding and resources to narco-terrorists.
The release concluded by saying the decision to designate the Cartel de los Soles was taken pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
FTO designations go into effect upon publication in the Federal Register. Cartel de los Soles was previously designated by the Department of the Treasury pursuant to Executive Order 13224.
This latest development comes as some US politicians have openly questioned the legality of President Trump's order of military strikes on alleged narco-terrorist boats which have seen dozens killed in the southern Caribbean Sea.
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