The United States Justice Department has quietly revised a central claim from a 2020 indictment against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, retreating from the allegation that he led a formal drug cartel known as the Cartel de los Soles.
The original indictment, issued during the Trump administration, accused Maduro of heading a transnational narcotics organization responsible for trafficking cocaine and supporting armed groups such as Colombia’s FARC rebels. The Treasury Department later designated the group as a terrorist organization in July 2025, followed by a similar designation from the State Department in November.
The revised indictment, released after Maduro’s capture, mentions the Cartel de los Soles only twice and no longer portrays it as a unified criminal organization. Prosecutors now describe it as a “patronage system” and a “culture of corruption,” in which drug proceeds allegedly flowed to civilian, military, and intelligence officials within a hierarchy controlled by senior leaders. Maduro is accused of participating in and protecting this system, rather than commanding a formal cartel.
Experts on Latin American crime have long questioned the existence of the Cartel de los Soles as a structured organization, noting that the term originated in Venezuelan media to describe corrupt officials benefiting from drug trafficking.
Elizabeth Dickinson, deputy director for Latin America at the International Crisis Group, said the updated indictment “aligns far more closely with reality” than the original, although she criticized U.S. designations that do not require proof in court.
Despite the change, U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, continue to refer to the Cartel de los Soles as a functioning cartel and assert that Maduro remains in U.S. custody.
The revised filing also added the leader of Tren de Aragua, a notorious Venezuelan prison gang, as a co-defendant for allegedly facilitating drug shipments.
