“Venezuela categorically, firmly, and absolutely rejects the new and ridiculous fabrication by the Secretary of the US Department of State, Marco Rubio, which designates the non-existent Cartel of the Suns as a terrorist organization,” Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil stated on his Telegram channel.
Secretary of State Rubio made the designation official later on Monday. President Trump has claimed without evidence that Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro leads the alleged criminal organization and that it is importing drugs into the US.
The move comes as the US military continues preparations for a possible military operation to carry out regime change in the oil-rich South American nation.
The measure revives “an infamous and vile lie to justify an illegitimate and illegal intervention against Venezuela, under the classic US regime change format. This new maneuver will meet the same fate as previous and recurring aggressions against our country: failure,” the Venezuelan foreign minister added.
Trump held multiple meetings with senior advisors last week to discuss options for a possible military assault on Venezuela, Reuters reported.
In one meeting, Trump was presented with several options for an attack. The meeting was attended by top administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine.
In a separate meeting, Trump said that he may have decided to launch a military assault on Venezuela.
“I can't tell you what it would be, but I sort of made up my mind” on Venezuela, he stated while speaking with reporters on Air Force One.
The same day, Secretary of War Hegseth announced the launch of Operation Southern Spear, claiming to target “narco-terrorists” in Latin America.
The Venezuelan president has compared a possible attack on his country to the US war on Iraq that was initiated based on lies about weapons of mass destruction, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
“Since they cannot say that we have hidden biological or chemical weapons, they invent a bizarre narrative,” Maduro said.
The US has deployed F-35 aircraft, warships, and a nuclear submarine to the region, including the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier strike group with 75 military planes and over 5,000 troops.
In previous months, US forces in the region have conducted 20 airstrikes against boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, claimed to be carrying drugs, killing 80 people.
The US military is also upgrading an abandoned former Cold War naval base in the Caribbean, “suggesting preparations for sustained operations that could support possible actions inside Venezuela,” a recent Reuters visual investigation found.
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