The Cartel of the Suns is a term used to define teams within Venezuela’s militaries implicated in a wide range of criminal tasks, consisting of fuel smuggling, illegal mining, and various other corruption schemes– most significantly medicine trafficking.
Instead of an ordered organization, the Cartel of the Suns functions as a loosened network of cells within the military, navy, flying force, and Bolivarian National Guard (Guardia Nacional Bolivariana– GNB), covering from the most affordable to the highest ranks. These groups operate essentially as medicine trafficking organizations.
It is unclear exactly how these cells connect to one another, or whether they connect in all.
History
Accusations that GNB soldiers collaborated with drug traffickers date back to the 1990 s, when police officers were implicated of taking kickbacks to permit traffickers and their deliveries to pass.
The phrase “Cartel of the Suns” reportedly emerged in 1993, when 2 GNB generals– anti-narcotics system chief Ramón Guillén Dávila and his follower, Orlando Hernández Villegas– were investigated for medication trafficking and associated crimes. As brigade leaders, each put on a single sunlight insignia on their epaulettes, generating the expression “Cartel of the Sunlight.” When division commanders– that bore dual sunlight– were later on implicated of trafficking, the name evolved right into the “Cartel of the Suns.”
By the mid- 2000 s, elements of the GNB and other branches had actually relocated past obtaining traffickers to directly acquiring, storing, and dispersing cocaine. One concept is that Colombian traffickers began paying Venezuelan police officers with medicines instead of money, requiring them to establish their very own markets.
Three major developments contributed to the rise of the mob in Venezuela during this period. First, Colombia’s multibillion-dollar Strategy Colombia, signed with the United States, permitted Colombian pressures to escalate procedures versus guerrilla groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia– FARC and the National Freedom Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional– ELN Raised army pressure pressed the guerrillas to change their procedures right into Venezuela’s improperly policed border states. Second, in 2002, the collapse of peace negotiation in between the FARC and Colombian Head of state Andrés Pastrana robbed the rebels of a huge safe house in southerly Colombia, forcing them to look for new havens. Third, the tried successful stroke that year briefly ousted President Hugo Chávez, diverting his interest to penalizing coup fans and battling political battles, such as the 2002– 2003 oil strike.
The stroke of genius’s after-effects led Chávez to narrow his circle of relied on allies, awarding prominent articles and rewarding agreements to dedicated armed forces policemans. The government embraced a praetorian model, with energetic and retired officers taking elderly duties throughout state organizations. Chávez also created armed forces operational zones along the western boundary, mentioning worries of a United States intrusion from Colombia. A number of these forces were damaged by the drug profession.
The term “Cartel of the Suns” went back to the public eye in 2004, when journalist and city councilman Mauro Marcano implicated senior GNB officials, consisting of intelligence chief Alexis Maneiro, of medicine ties. Marcano was murdered later on that year. The case recommended systemic corruption within the GNB, but the federal government made just weak efforts to examine. No case was opened versus Maneiro, that was simply reassigned.
That same year, the White Home Office of National Drug Control Plan estimated that about 50 lots of cocaine transited Venezuela. By 2007, the US Government Accountability Office place the figure at about 250 bunches.
Instances of military participation in trafficking also drew scrutiny. In 2004, numerous GNB participants grown medications on three airline company passengers , consisting of a United States person, at Caracas’ international flight terminal. Various other GNB officers were detained in a different instance after being caught packing drug onto a personal aircraft at Maiquetía flight terminal (now Simón Bolívar International Flight Terminal). These events exposed how the armed forces seized shipments when traffickers declined to pay bribes.
In 2005, Chávez charged the US Medicine Enforcement Management (DEA) of reconnaissance, halting US-backed anti-drug initiatives, consisting of plans to update evaluation innovation at Puerto Cabello, a crucial port for drug exports.
In 2008, the US Treasury Division’s Workplace of Foreign Properties Control (OFAC) approved previous armed forces intelligence chief Hugo Carvajal for offering “worldly support” to the FARC’s medication trafficking activities. Carvajal was briefly apprehended in Aruba at Washington’s demand but was quickly released after the Dutch government intervened.
That very same year, Chávez pushed through a reform of the Organic Law of the National Armed Forces (Ley Orgánica de la Fuerza Armada Nacional– LOFAN), transforming the National Armed Forces into the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana– FANB). The modification was not only symbolic but also reflected a new vision of the military’s role within the state. Under the banners of “civil– military unity” and “essential defense of the nation,” Chavismo redefined army doctrine, looking for to consolidate the armed forces as the foundation of its political project and as guarantors of the Bolivarian Transformation’s connection.
In 2011, authorities found 1, 400 kilos of drug on an aircraft captured in Falcón state. The aircraft had departed from La Carlota army base in Caracas. Military, air force, and government spokespeople provided contradictory descriptions.
As Nicolás Maduro increased to power adhering to the fatality of Chávez, the corruption of the state by the drug trade intensified. In 2013, French cops confiscated 1 3 lots of drug packed into 31 suitcases on an Air France trip from Caracas, resulting in the arrest of 28 individuals, including a lieutenant colonel and various other GNB officers.
A lot more scandals complied with. In 2015, Chávez’s former head of governmental security, Leamsy Salazar, accused National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello of being just one of the Cartel of the Suns’ leaders. That exact same year, the United States billed 2 elderly previous police authorities with medication trafficking. In 2016, United States district attorneys prosecuted Néstor Reverol, Venezuela’s former anti-narcotics chief, and his deputy, Edylberto Molina. The day after the fees became public, Head of state Maduro assigned Reverol as interior priest.
The long listing of allegations culminated in March 2020, when the United States Justice Department fingered Maduro, elderly officials, and FARC leaders on “narco-terrorism” costs, implicating them of damaging state organizations to assist in the shipment of tons of drug to the USA. The indictment mentioned that Maduro and others “abused the Venezuelan people and damaged the legitimate establishments of Venezuela– consisting of parts of the military, intelligence apparatus, legislature, and the judiciary– to help with the importation of lots of cocaine right into the USA.” At the time, the United States State Division used a reward of $ 15 million for info resulting in Maduro’s arrest.
In August 2025, that incentive was raised to $ 50 million after the USA marked the Cartel of the Suns as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGTs) the previous month. Soon after, several other nations in the area– including Argentina, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago– joined the terrorist classification effort.
Wrongdoer Activities
The Venezuelan military’s most constant duty in medication trafficking has actually been to ensure the secure flow of cocaine deliveries, as well as to license the arrival and departure of airplane bring the medicine to various other nations. Because the militaries are tasked with protecting nationwide area and boundaries and leading the fight against medicine trafficking, to name a few duties, they are uniquely placed either to discover illicit movements and report them– or to let them pass.
A number of records indicate that Venezuelan military policemans based along the border can make a decision whether to permit medication shipments to relocate by land– and commonly offer security along the route. This is especially true of clandestine airstrips in the border states of Zulia, Apure, and Táchira, which act as separation factors for cocaine trips to Central America and the Caribbean.
The Venezuelan armed force also helps with the arrival and departure of airplanes, generally by adjusting air-defense radar. Situation files and reporting assessed by Understanding Criminal activity reveal that police officers often demand repayments from traffickers to switch off the radar at precise moments so trips are not tape-recorded, or to provide special codes that make a trip appear lawful– making sure the authorities will certainly not pursue the airplane later.
Federal government agents are additionally associated with authorizing the departure of cargo from official seaports and flight terminals While there is no definitive evidence, there are strong indicators of their involvement. These facilities are typically handled by the army, which keeps them under limited control.
Leadership
The Cartel of the Suns has no specified command framework. Instead, detectives have identified dozens of elderly officials throughout the militaries connected to trafficking. Understanding Crime has actually documented 123 active and retired high-level officers implicated in drug smuggling.
Some of the initial signs from US government resources of deep involvement by Venezuela’s leading protection authorities in organized crime was available in 2008 That September, the US Treasury Department’s Workplace of Foreign Properties Control (OFAC) sanctioned 3 guys purportedly functioning as get in touches with for the FARC in a drugs-for-weapons system: Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios, alias “El Pollo,” then armed forces intelligence principal; Henry de Jesús Rangel Silva, later on named general-in-chief and defense preacher in January 2012; and Ramón Emilio Rodríguez Chacín, a previous inside and justice priest.
In 2011, OFAC approved 4 even more authorities for giving weapons and security to the FARC. Those approved included Cliver Antonio Alcalá Cordones, later on called head of the army’s Strategic Integral Defense Region for Guayana (Región Estratégica de Defensa Integral de Guayana– REDI Guayana); Congressman Freddy Alirio Bernal Rosales, a former Caracas mayor and currently governor of Táchira state; secret agent Ramón Isidro Madriz Moreno; and political leader Amílcar Jesús Figueroa Salazar, referred to as a “principal arms distributor to the FARC and … a major avenue to senior FARC commanders based in Venezuela.”
Advocates of Chávez and Maduro argued the sanctions were based on baseless evidence, consisting of files confiscated from the bombed camp of FARC leader “Raúl Reyes.” They disregarded the Cartel of the Suns as a political construct. Still, Venezuelan authorities fell short to perform transparent investigations right into Maneiro, Alcalá, and various other senior policemans, prosecuting just lower-ranking employees.
Private authorities have also been implicated. Maduro’s stepsons– Walter, Yosser, and Yoswal Flores– supposedly made money from inflated food import contracts run by Colombian businessman Álex Saab, accused of siphoning numerous dollars from state programs. In 2017, the United States Treasury Division sanctioned then-industry minister Tareck El Aissami for playing a “considerable role” in medication trafficking, declaring he helped with shipments for kingpin Walid Makled and used protection to traffickers Daniel Barrera and Hermágoras González. In 2019, the United States Justice Division prosecuted him for breaking sanctions by using United States firms to charter private flights.
In 2020, a court in the Southern Area of New York City indicted Maduro, former General Cliver Alcalá, Hugo Carvajal Barrios, and Diosdado Cabello — now priest of inside, justice, and tranquility– for participating in cocaine trafficking alongside the FARC.
In June 2023, retired General Cliver Alcalá– that had actually left the army in 2013– begged guilty in court to collaborating with the FARC given that 2006 In 2024, he was punished to 21 years behind bars for “offering product support to a marked foreign terrorist organization,” including the sale of weapons.
In June 2025, Hugo Carvajal Barrios– armed forces intelligence chief until 2014 and later a member of the National Assembly– additionally pleaded guilty before the same court. According to a news release from the US Lawyer’s Workplace, Carvajal Barrios “collaborated with the FARC to work with multi-ton medicine shipments under his defense; given heavily-armed safety and security to shield drug deliveries; and equipped the FARC with automated tools and dynamites to further the group’s drug trafficking and terrorist activities.” He likewise utilized “violence, consisting of kidnappings and murder, to promote this drug trafficking and shield his co-conspirators.”
Various other United States government firms and former Venezuelan authorities have actually additionally indicated a number of powerful numbers with connections to the highest degree of federal government for adding to criminal activity.
Tareck El Aissami, Venezuela’s previous vice head of state, likewise stands apart for his function in criminal systems. In 2017, the United States Treasury Division sanctioned El Aissami for “his significant function in international narcotics trafficking.” Specifically, Treasury affirmed that El Aissami “obtained repayments for promoting medication shipments by Venezuelan kingpin Walid Makled,” and that he supplied “security to Colombian drug lord Daniel Barrera Barrera and Venezuelan medicine trafficker Hermagoras Gonzalez Polanco,” to name a few criminal offenses.
In 2019, United States prosecutors billed him with breaching Treasury sanctions by supposedly using United States firms to charter private trips.
General Néstor Reverol, former supervisor of the National Anti-Drug Workplace (Oficina Nacional Antidrogas– ONA), has actually also been identified as a straight facilitator of drug trafficking operations. A 2015 indictment affirmed that in between January 2008 and December 2010, Reverol used his setting of authority to tip off traffickers about upcoming raids, secure the release of individuals and home connected to the medicine trade, block investigations and counternarcotics operations, and accept kickbacks from traffickers for assisting them execute their organization.
“Medicine trafficking and corruption were typical, led by vital numbers such as Néstor Reverol,” Carvajal Barrios, Venezuela’s previous armed forces intelligence principal, informed The New York Times in 2019
Location
The military components believed to be most associated with medication trafficking in Venezuela are concentrated along the western boundary with Colombia, particularly in the states of Apure, Zulia, and Táchira. These cells draw their power from accessibility to the country’s primary flight terminals, highway checkpoints, and ports, including Puerto Cabello in Carabobo state.
Cocaine deliveries are sourced in the border states of Apure and Zulia or in Colombia’s neighboring divisions. Offered the shortage people bucks in Venezuela and the continuous decline of the regional bolívar on the underground market, money deals are rare. Cocaine is usually exchanged for weapons, specifically in earlier negotiations with the FARC. Or else, Venezuelan stars companion with well established Colombian traffickers and agree to share make money from overseas sales.
One of the most generally utilized courses are by air to the Dominican Republic and Honduras An additional path entails relocating drug overland to Suriname and afterwards by air or sea to West Africa, and from there on to Europe. When moved by land, deliveries are usually saved on regional ranches and farms owned by private get in touches with.
Allies and Opponents
In the past, these army companies were thought to source drug from the former FARC, especially the Eastern Bloc and the Center Magdalena Bloc. However after the insurgents demobilized in 2016, FARC objectors who declined to put down arms inherited part of the business.
Still, the role when played by the now-defunct FARC in providing deliveries and supervising operations inside Venezuela has, for the previous decade, been presumed by the ELN. The guerrilla team has gradually consolidated control along the boundary and end up being a calculated partner of the Maduro routine, taking charge of both delivering shipments and protecting medication dispatch zones.
In its 2019 Country Records on Terrorism, the US government specified that “Maduro and his cronies utilize criminal tasks to help maintain their bogus hold on power, which creates a liberal environment for … the ELN.” The guerrillas have actually supposedly paid participants of Venezuela’s militaries to protect their passions, including illegal mining and fuel smuggling.
The Bolivarian National Guard also teamed up with private medicine trafficker Walid Makled to move narcotics shipments out of Venezuela. Makled claimed he collaborated with lots of senior army leaders. Both the National Guard and the army apparently utilized him as an “intermediary” to coordinate the activity of cocaine deliveries abroad.
There is also proof recommending that members of the Cartel of the Suns have delighted in engineering, and even active involvement, from senior civilian authorities in Venezuela’s federal government. In 2016, as an example, 2 nephews of Venezuelan very first woman Cilia Flores appeared before an US government court to encounter drug charges. A DEA agent indicated that their planned medication bargain was facilitated by Flores’ bro, Bladimir. Evidence presented throughout the trial suggested the nephews may have served as a political front for the Cartel of the Suns.
In November 2022, the supposed “narcosobrinos” were launched by the United States after serving component of their medicine trafficking sentence. Their launch was part of a prisoner swap between Washington and Caracas that consisted of the without US residents kept in Venezuela.
Potential customers
Multiple instances highlight the involvement of senior authorities and participants of Venezuela’s armed forces in the criminal activities attributed to the Cartel of the Suns. Yet the Venezuelan government has not released strenuous investigations or judicial proceedings against the suspects. In many cases, military police officers accused of joining drug trafficking have actually also been advertised.
Offered this situation, and amid Venezuela’s worsening political and recessions , it is plausible that the Cartel of the Suns will proceed operating unrestricted and maintain its expansion.
At the same time, record make money from flourishing coca farming and drug manufacturing in Colombia have transformed Venezuela into a critical system for drug deliveries. This dynamic is sustained by the involvement of military policemans at various levels in contraband and protection networks, as well as by the duty of the ELN, which has actually combined territorial control along the border and functions as a key companion in these procedures.
The team additionally faces placing geopolitical stress, with the USA describing it as a terrorist company that intimidates US safety. The Venezuelan federal government has reacted by rejecting the group’s existence, but it remains to be seen how this pressure might impact such a deeply entrenched system of corruption.