The United States government announced the possibility of opening a communication channel with the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, after the State Department announced that it will begin the procedure to designate the Cartel of the Suns, a criminal group led by senior officials of the Chavista regime, as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO).
“We could have discussions with Maduro, and we’ll see how that turns out. They would like to talk… I’ll talk to anyone, we’ll see what happens,” President Donald Trump declared before the press in Florida.
The US president’s words come amid the increase in US military activity in the waters of the Caribbean and the Pacific. This Sunday, the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest in the US fleet, entered Caribbean waters as part of an operational deployment ordered by Trump to confront drug trafficking and put pressure on the Chavista regime.
“We have great support because everything is about drugs. Well, in the case of Venezuela, it is about drugs and it is also about thousands, hundreds of thousands of people who were thrown into our country, and some are members of the Tren de Aragua gang. Some, many are drug traffickers, some are murderers,” Trump said about the reason for the military reinforcement.
Simultaneously, the US State Department confirmed the designation of the Cartel of the Suns as a foreign terrorist organization, a group that Washington associates with the military and political leadership of the Maduro regime.
The measure, effective as of November 24, enables the imposition of additional sanctions and direct actions against goods, assets and networks associated with the cartel.
“It allows us to do that, but we have not said that we are going to do that, and we could discuss (with Venezuela),” said Trump when asked if attacks on infrastructure within Venezuelan territory are contemplated.
In the official statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the structure of the Cartel of the Suns is integrated and headed by senior Chavista officials.
“Based in Venezuela, the Cartel of the Suns is led by Nicolás Maduro and other high-ranking individuals in the illegitimate Maduro regime who have corrupted Venezuela’s military, intelligence, legislature and judiciary.” The text adds that this and other terrorist organizations, such as the Aragua Train and the Sinaloa Cartel, are responsible for the terrorist violence that affects the hemisphere and the shipment of drugs to the United States and Europe.
The confrontation between Washington and Caracas includes the US announcement of the destruction of another vessel dedicated to drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific, within the framework of Operation Southern Spear.
The Southern Command confirmed the neutralization of three narcoterrorists during an operation that, since September, has seen 21 vessels destroyed and more than 80 people killed.
The Secretary of State stressed that “neither Maduro nor his cronies represent the legitimate government of Venezuela” and that Washington will continue to use all diplomatic, legal and military resources to hinder the financing and operations of the regime and its allies.
Despite the hostility on the diplomatic and military front, President Trump recognized the possibility of establishing contacts with the Chavista regime. Regarding these eventual dialogues, he explained that the initiative started from Caracas.
“They would like to talk,” he said, although he said he was not certain about the potential content of the agenda.
“I’ll talk to anyone, we’ll see what happens,” he told reporters at Palm Beach International Airport.
US media reported previous attempts by the Chavista regime to negotiate conditions with the Trump administration.
The Miami Herald newspaper reported that Vice President Delcy Rodríguez had proposed to Washington the formation of a transitional government without Maduro at the helm. For its part, The New York Times reported that Caracas offered to open the Venezuelan oil and gold sector to companies from the United States, and even divert fuel exports from China to North America.
From Venezuela, the regime headed by Maduro and supported by figures such as Diosdado Cabello rejects the existence of the Cartel of the Suns, calling it an American invention used as an instrument of political pressure.
Cabello even stated in August that “the Cartel of the Suns is an invention. The Americans invented that and in that time it has had about 300 bosses, every time someone bothers them they put him as the head of the Cartel of the Suns.”
The United States government, however, supports new legal and military instruments in its offensive against Venezuela.
The recent designation as FTO and the increase in naval deployment reinforce the pressure on the Chavista leadership, in a context characterized by international rejection of a regime that Washington does not recognize as legitimate and which it links to transnational crimes of terrorism and drug trafficking. Source: Infobae
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