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Although the United States maintains the charges of drug trafficking and narco-terrorism in its accusation against Nicolás Maduro, the Department of Justice has removed the direct mention of the Venezuelan leader as the head of the so-called "Cartel of the Suns," a label that has marked Washington's political and judicial discourse against chavismo in recent months.
According to The New York Times, the new charge presented by the U.S. Attorney's Office softens the language used in 2020, when a grand jury accused Maduro of "helping manage and ultimately lead" that alleged drug trafficking network.
In the updated document, the cartel is no longer described as a structured criminal organization, but rather as a “system of clientelism” that operates within a culture of corruption at the highest levels of Venezuelan power.
The reviewed judicial file states that the profits from drug trafficking flowed to civil and military officials operating within a patronage system directed from the highest echelons, identified in the text as the Cartel de los Soles, but without presenting Maduro as its direct leader anymore
The change occurs just hours after the appearance of Maduro before a federal court in New York, a moment rich in political symbolism.
Handcuffed, in the custody of federal agents and assisted by simultaneous translation, the Chavista dictator pleaded not guilty and stated before Judge Alvin Hellerstein: “I was captured. I am still the president of my country.”
Although the revised text drastically reduces references to the Cartel de los Soles, with only two mentions compared to dozens in the original accusation, the allegations of cocaine trafficking remain unchanged.
The Prosecutor's Office claims that Maduro "participates in, perpetuates, and protects a culture of corruption" in which political and military elites have enriched themselves through drug trafficking, with institutional protection and economic benefits flowing to officials of the Venezuelan state, according to a cable from EFE.
The contrast with the original accusation is striking. In 2020, U.S. prosecutors explicitly stated that Maduro had come to lead the Cartel of the Suns as he rose to power in Caracas, presenting it as a drug trafficking organization made up of high-ranking officials of the Venezuelan state and linked to armed groups and international cartels.
Despite this adjustment in legal language, the substantive charges remain intact. The Prosecutor's Office continues to accuse Maduro of conspiracy to traffic cocaine, narco-terrorism, and possession of weapons of war, in addition to pointing out alleged ties to organizations designated by Washington as terrorists, including the FARC, the ELN, the Sinaloa cartel, the Zetas, and the Tren de Aragua.
However, while the judicial document softens the concept of the cartel, President Donald Trump has publicly insisted that the operation that led to Maduro's capture is part of a broader offensive to "decapitate" the Cartel of the Suns, an organization that the United States designated in 2025 as a foreign terrorist group, a decision supported by several Latin American governments and strongly rejected by Venezuela and Cuba, which label it as a “CIA invention.”
Analysts cited by EFE recall that the actual existence of the cartel as an organized criminal structure has been questioned for years, even within Venezuela. The first allegations emerged in 2004 and pointed to National Guard officials involved in drug trafficking, but conclusive judicial evidence regarding a formal hierarchical network has never been established.
Maduro's next court hearing is scheduled for March 17, and until then, the Chavista will remain in custody, facing not only a criminal trial but also the symbolic weight of a downfall that had seemed impossible for years.
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