Venezuelan gang allegedly linked to Maduro sanctioned by US

 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. [AFP]

The United States Treasury on Friday announced sanctions against a Venezuelan group which it claims is led by President Nicolas Maduro, alleging it backs leading drug cartels.

The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced restrictions on the so-called "Cartel of the Suns," classing it as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity.

The OFAC agency, which determines sanctions based on US foreign policy, says the group is "headed by Nicolas Maduro" and "other high-ranking Venezuelan individuals in the Maduro regime."

It also alleged the cartel "provides material support" to the Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel -- criminal gangs designated by President Donald Trump's administration as terrorist groups.

"Today's action further exposes the illegitimate Maduro regime's facilitation of narco-terrorism through terrorist groups like Cartel de los Soles," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

Trump's first-term administration indicted Maduro and several of his top aides for "narco-terrorism" and offered a reward for their capture, claims that were slammed by the leftist Venezuelan leader.

According to Trump's government, "Cartel de los Soles" has an objective of "using the flood of illegal narcotics as a weapon against the United States."

Trump has targeted several groups south of the US border that he says are funnelling vast amounts of dangerous illicit drugs into the United States and are involved in extortion, migrant smuggling and other violent crime.

Relations between Washington and Caracas have been deteriorating for years.

In 2019, the United States contested Maduro's re-election, which was widely deemed as fraudulent by the international community.

This year, Trump announced a partial ban on travellers from Venezuela, among a dozen countries.

On Thursday, Maduro announced that the United States was allowing petroleum giant Chevron to resume operations in the South American country after previously slapping sanctions. Washington has not confirmed the development.