Overview
- An amended indictment slashes references to 'Cartel de los Soles' from 32 to two and recasts it as a patronage system or culture of corruption rather than a discrete cartel.
- Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores are in U.S. custody after their capture, were arraigned in Manhattan, and pleaded not guilty to narco-terrorism, drug, and weapons charges.
- State and Treasury labeled 'Cartel de los Soles' a terrorist entity in 2025, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio still describes it as a transnational criminal organization.
- Experts note the term originated in 1990s Venezuelan media to describe corrupt officials bearing sun insignia, and major drug reports by UNODC and the DEA do not list it as a trafficking organization.
- Prosecutors now focus on allegations that drug proceeds flowed through a corruption network benefiting Venezuelan elites, a framing that lowers reliance on proving a formal cartel structure in court.