US designates group allegedly tied to Venezuela's Maduro for supporting gangs
U.S. State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said in a post on X, which it later deleted, that it would use "all the resources at our disposal to prevent Maduro from continuing to profit from destroying American lives and destabilizing our hemisphere."
The U.S. has alleged that the group, known as the Cartel de Los Soles, is made up of high-ranking Venezuelan officials, including Maduro. The U.S. in 2020 had already charged Maduro and his allies with drug trafficking.
Venezuela's communications ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Maduro has repeatedly rejected the U.S. allegations as a smear campaign and said the U.S. must do more to reduce drug consumption.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the post, the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs accused Maduro, whom the office called a "dictator," of leading the group to traffic narcotics into the U.S.
The United States has previously argued that Maduro's election win last year was illegitimate and has an order out for his capture.
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Maduro, president since 2013, was declared the winner of the country's July 2024 election by both Venezuela's electoral authority and top court, though detailed tallies confirming his victory have never been published. REUTERS
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Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox – The mood among the men at this makeshift bomb shelter along the battle-scarred border between Thailand and Cambodia is decidedly brighter – buoyed by the possibility of light at the end of the tunnel and being reunited with family. Since the outbreak of fighting on July 24, the few dozen male villagers who have stayed behind to tend cattle and guard their village in the border hotspot of Phanom Dong Rak district in Thailand's Surin province, have slept rough in their improvised bunker comprising segments of large concrete stormwater pipes, and buttressed with rice sacks filled with sand. The confined space means the men are unable to stretch out fully to sleep, instead contorting and slouching against the harsh curves of the bunker 'walls'. Small portable fans do little to defray the stifling heat and dispel bloodthirsty mosquitoes at night. 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