DEA zeroes in on Cartel of the Suns bosses as Maduro is hauled into US narco case
The early-morning arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro sent shockwaves around the world, marking the most consequential move by the United States in its war against the dictator’s notorious “Cartel of the Suns.”
Maduro was indicted alongside his wife, Cilia Flores, son and three alleged co-conspirators with federal gun and narcotics trafficking charges. The case, which mirrors original charges filed in the Southern District of New York in 2020, adds charges against Flores and was filed under seal last month.
Maduro is facing four charges, including narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
Federal prosecutors allege that for years, the Cartel of the Suns – or “Cartel de los Soles” – has worked in tandem with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) under Maduro’s leadership to execute a complex and large-scale cocaine trafficking network to funnel narcotics into the U.S.
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“The Venezuelan regime, once led by Nicolás Maduro Moros, remains plagued by criminality and corruption,” then-Attorney General William Barr said in a 2020 news release. “For more than 20 years, Maduro and a number of high-ranking colleagues allegedly conspired with the FARC, causing tons of cocaine to enter and devastate American communities.”
U.S. officials’ war against Venezuela’s trafficking empire dates back to 1996, after the country was deemed one of the largest drug transit hubs within the Western Hemisphere, according to a 2009 report published by the United States Government Accountability Office.
Venezuela’s shared border with Colombia – along with ongoing corruption within the country’s government – has long provided criminals with consistent resources to transport narcotics throughout the region.
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Since 2005, Venezuela’s cooperation with the U.S. regarding counternarcotic operations has significantly dwindled, denying visas to U.S. officials in 2007. One year later, then-President Hugo Chávez expelled the U.S. ambassador and recalled his ambassador from Washington, D.C., marking a significant blow to the two countries’ collaboration efforts.
While Venezuela and the U.S. agreed to reinstate their ambassadors in 2009, Venezuelan officials insisted the country did not need to work alongside the U.S. in counternarcotic efforts due to the country’s own programs.
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In an effort to crack down on Venezuela’s trafficking networks, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has worked both within the country and domestically to capture the cartel’s key players.
In 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Padrino Lopez, a general in the Venezuelan armed forces, to its Specially Designated Nationals List.
In 2020, the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against Maduro and 14 co-conspirators, with charges stemming from investigations conducted in collaboration with the DEA.
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Five years later, Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios, a top general known as “El Pollo,” pleaded guilty to the same charges brought against Maduro. His conviction marked a notable victory for U.S. officials, with co-conspirator Cliver Antonio Alcala Cordones also pleading guilty to providing material support, including firearms, to the FARC.
In 2025, OFAC sanctioned the Cartel of the Suns as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist due to its history of providing material support to Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel. Despite the accusations, a U.S. intelligence assessment comprised of 18 agencies later found no direct evidence of a connection between the cartels, according to The Associated Press.
However, the indictment filed against Maduro alleges he, along with his family, facilitated “cocaine-fueled corruption to flourish for his own benefit, for the benefit of members of his ruling regime, and for the benefit of his family members.”
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Federal prosecutors allege Maduro “provided law enforcement cover and logistical support,” such as facilitating transport – such as boats and airplanes – to cartels moving drugs throughout the region.
“This cycle of narcotics-based corruption lines the pockets of Venezuelan officials and their families while also benefiting violent narco-terrorists who operate with impunity on Venezuelan soil and who help produce, protect, and transport tons of cocaine to the United States,” the indictment adds.
The DEA did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Expert warns of ‘extreme violence’ in Venezuelan mining as Trump admin eyes mineral reserves
The Trump administration’s renewed interest in tapping Venezuela’s mineral reserves could carry with it “serious risk,” an expert on illicit economies has warned in the wake of the capture of Nicolás Maduro.
A day after the U.S. military captured Maduro in Caracas, Trump administration officials highlighted their interest in the country’s critical mineral potential.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters on Jan. 4, “You have steel, you have minerals, all the critical minerals. They have a great mining history that’s gone rusty,” he said aboard Air Force One alongside President Donald Trump.
Lutnick also said that Trump “is going to fix it and bring it back – for the Venezuelans.”
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“Venezuela’s gold, critical mineral and rare earth potential is substantial, which makes mining resources very much on the menu for Trump,” Bram Ebus told Fox News Digital.
“But this illicit economy involves extreme violence,” he said, before describing abuses that include forced labor, criminal control of mining zones and punishments such as “hands being cut off for theft.”
Ebus cautioned that without strict safeguards, transparency and security, Trump’s efforts to tap Venezuela’s mineral wealth could entangle the U.S. in criminal networks.
“The sector is already dominated by transnational crime syndicates, deeply implicated in human rights abuses, and intertwined with Chinese corporate interests,” Ebus, the founder of Amazon Underworld, a research collective covering organized crime, said. “If corporations or foreign private security firms were to become directly involved in mining in Venezuela’s Amazon region, the situation could deteriorate rapidly and violently.”
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Despite the renewed focus on oil and mineral wealth, “when it comes to mining, the situation is more complex than oil,” Ebus added. “The illicit extraction of gold, tungsten, tantalum, and rare earth elements is largely controlled by Colombian guerrilla organizations, often working in collaboration with corrupt Venezuelan state security forces. Much of this output currently ends up in China.”
Ebus also described dire conditions inside mining zones. “Mining districts are effectively run by criminal governance,” he explained. “Armed groups decide who can enter or leave an area, tax legal and illegal economic activity, and enforce their own form of justice.” He also described how “punishments for breaking rules can include expulsion, beatings, torture or death.”
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“We have documented summary executions, decapitations, and severe physical mutilation, such as hands being cut off for theft,” he added. “Sexual exploitation, forced labor, and torture are widespread with crimes not limited to non-state actors.”
He also noted that “Venezuelan state forces, including the army, National Guard, and intelligence services are deeply involved and work in direct collaboration with organized crime groups.”
Ebus described how Colombia’s largest guerrilla organizations, including the ELN and factions such as the Segunda Marquetalia, along with Venezuelan organized crime groups operating locally – or “sistemas” – dominate illegal mining operations, noting that “there are at least five major ‘sindicatos’ operating across Bolívar state alone.”
“Together, all these actors make up the core criminal panorama of Venezuela’s mining sector,” Ebus added.
In 2016, Maduro established the Orinoco Mining Arc, a 111,843-square-kilometer zone rich in gold, diamonds, coltan and other minerals.
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The area has since become synonymous with illicit mining and corrupt officials.
In 2019, the U.S. sanctioned Venezuelan gold exports with at least 86% of the country’s gold reportedly being produced illegally and often controlled by criminal gangs.
However, from a U.S. perspective, Ebus said, the objective behind critical minerals could be limiting China’s access.
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“With gold prices expected to peak around 2026, access to gold represents a major benefit for national economies and government investment stability,” he said. “Beyond gold, controlling critical mineral supply chains offers enormous geopolitical leverage for the U.S., especially if it allows it to deny access to China.”
US used sonic weapon on Venezuelan troops, report shared by Leavitt claims
A viral story from a man claiming to have witnessed the U.S. operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro states that the U.S. used sonic weapons during the mission to incapacitate opposing forces.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared the eyewitness interview on X, encouraging her followers to read the statement. The witness in the interview claims to be a guard who was serving at the Caracas military base where the U.S. captured Maduro.
“We were on guard, but suddenly all our radar systems shut down without any explanation,” the witness said. “The next thing we saw were drones, a lot of drones, flying over our positions. We didn’t know how to react.”
The witness then described watching roughly 20 U.S. soldiers deploy out of roughly eight helicopters over the base.
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“They were technologically very advanced,” the guard said. “They didn’t look like anything we’ve fought against before.”
“We were hundreds, but we had no chance,” he said. “They were shooting with such precision and speed; it felt like each soldier was firing 300 rounds per minute.”
The witness then describes the U.S. deploying some sort of sonic weapon against Venezuelan forces.
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“At one point, they launched something; I don’t know how to describe it,” he said. “It was like a very intense sound wave. Suddenly I felt like my head was exploding from the inside.”
“We all started bleeding from the nose,” he added. “Some were vomiting blood. We fell to the ground, unable to move. We couldn’t even stand up after that sonic weapon — or whatever it was.”
“Those twenty men, without a single casualty, killed hundreds of us,” the witness claimed. “We had no way to compete with their technology, with their weapons. I swear, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
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The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital when asked whether Leavitt’s sharing of the post constituted confirmation of its veracity. The Pentagon also did not immediately respond when asked if the U.S. deployed sonic or energy weapons in Venezuela.
Trump ultimatum to Cuba: ‘Make a deal, before it is too late’ or face consequences
President Donald Trump signaled a hardline stance toward Cuba on Sunday, vowing to halt all oil and financial support and urging the island nation to “make a deal” before it is “too late.”
“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
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Venezuela has long been Cuba’s largest oil supplier, though Trump has successfully secured oil shipments to the U.S. on the heels of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro‘s capture by U.S. forces.
“Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela,” Trump added.
The warning comes as the Trump administration intensifies its efforts to isolate regional allies of Venezuela following Maduro’s capture.
Venezuela’s massive oil reserves, the largest in the world, have historically underpinned its influence across the region, particularly through subsidized shipments to allies like Cuba.
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That leverage is now at the center of Trump’s push to reshape regional energy flows following the collapse of Venezuela’s former government.
On Friday, Trump hosted a lineup of U.S. and international oil executives representing key sectors of Venezuela’s energy supply chain, including producers, refiners and traders.
Trump pledged to bring U.S. companies back to the forefront of Venezuelan oil production and exports, according to people familiar with the discussions.