The Trump administration could gain expanded authority to intervene in Venezuela’s affairs starting on Monday, as the United States designated Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his government allies as members of a foreign terrorist organization. Designating the group as “Cartel de los Soles” (a term experts characterize more as a description of allegedly corrupt officials rather than an organized criminal gang) as a foreign terrorist organization will allow President Donald Trump to impose new sanctions targeting Maduro’s assets and infrastructure. However, according to legal experts, this does not explicitly authorize the use of lethal force. Nevertheless, administration officials argue that this decision—one of the State Department’s most serious counterterrorism tools—will provide the U.S. with expanded military capabilities to strike inside Venezuela. According to experts, “Cartel de los Soles” is used to refer to a decentralized network of Venezuelan entities within the armed forces linked to drug trafficking. The Venezuelan president has always denied any personal involvement in drug trafficking, and his government has repeatedly denied the very existence of the alleged cartel, which some specialists claim technically does not exist in the conventional sense. This decision, announced on November 16, coincided with the U.S. military concentrating more than a dozen warships and 15,000 service members in the region as part of an operation the Pentagon called “Operation Southern Shield.” As part of this counternarcotics campaign, the U.S. military has already killed dozens of people in boat attacks. Senior leadership has briefed Trump on a range of options for action in Venezuela, including strikes on military or government targets and special forces raids. The option of inaction also remains open. There is some public opposition to U.S. involvement in the region. According to a CBS News/YouGov poll released on Sunday, 70% of Americans oppose U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, while 30% support it. Seventy-six percent of respondents believe the Trump administration has not clearly explained the U.S. position regarding military action. Officially, the Trump administration states it is working to reduce illegal flows of migrants and drugs, though regime change remains a possible side effect of these efforts. A U.S. official said Trump hopes this level of pressure will be enough to force Maduro to resign without direct military intervention. Trump has shown some openness to a diplomatic resolution, stating last week that Maduro “would like to talk,” and later hinting that he would be open to a conversation with him “at some time.” The White House did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for an update on the status of a potential conversation between Trump and Maduro. As a sign of escalating tensions, the U.S. conducted its largest demonstration of military power near Venezuela on Thursday: according to open-source flight data analysis conducted by CNN, at least six U.S. aircraft, including an F/A-18E fighter-bomber, a B-52 strategic bomber, and reconnaissance planes, were spotted off the country’s coast over several hours. And over the weekend, three international airlines canceled flights from Venezuela after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration warned major carriers about a “potentially hazardous situation” when flying over the country, Reuters reports.
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