Until the past 24 hours, Nicolás Maduro Moros and other Venezuelan high-ranking individuals in the Maduro regime ran the Cartel of the Suns (Cartel de los Soles). Now that the U.S. has penetrated Venezuela’s defenses to capture and arrest Maduro, things have changed.
Maduro and his regime had corrupted the institutions of that country, including its military, its intelligence apparatus, its legislature, and its judiciary, all to aid his cartel’s massive criminal operations.
The Cartel de los Soles originated in Venezuela, and has been involved in the illicit drug trade, human smuggling and trafficking, extortion, sexual exploitation of women and children, and money laundering, along with other criminal activities. Reports are that the cartel’s name is derived from the sun insignias often portrayed on the uniforms of Venezuelan military officials; the relationship is that symbiotic.
The Venezuelan cartel also supports Tren de Aragua, which typically makes news for its work in trafficking drugs, weapons, and people, all of which undermine the United States. Maduro’s cartel has also supported the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel, the largest and most powerful cartel in the Western Hemisphere.
Since taking office, President Donald Trump and his administration have designated Cartel de los Soles, the Sinaloa Cartel, and their affiliates as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO). As a result, it was able to seize cartel assets and conduct military operations against specific threats as they have presented themselves. This most recent raid and the capture of Maduro has disrupted the cartels’ operations. Looking back to the start of Trump’s second term, Trump has been steadily working to dismantle the power structure of the cartels, and Maduro was key.
⭕️ Last Month: Washington does not recognize Maduro regime
— ZIONS OF ISRAEL (@Israeli_Sniper) January 3, 2026
U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz called Maduro a fugitive who “stole the election.” He added that President Trump will use the full power of the U.S. to confront and eradicate drug cartels operating in the hemisphere. pic.twitter.com/lzgNXktLcm
As our own Catherine Salgado reported, the president said, “The illegitimate dictator Maduro was the kingpin of the criminal network responsible for trafficking colossal amounts of deadly and illicit drugs into the United States. As alleged in the indictment, he personally oversaw the vicious cartel known as Cartel de los Soles, which flooded our nation with lethal poison, responsible for the deaths of countless Americans.”
The Sinaloa Cartel, which remains, is one of the oldest and most powerful cartels in Mexico, responsible for a significant portion of deadly drugs trafficked into the United States from Mexico. It has been a primary source of the U.S.’s trafficked fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and other illicit drug, along with widespread violence.
Why Venezuela Is Important to the Cartels
Venezuela is not primarily a producer of cocaine, but it is one of the world’s most important transit hubs for illegal drugs and other forms of trafficking. It is close to Colombia’s cocaine-producing regions. Its long and porous borders and coastlines make it a convenient access point for traffickers. Its state institutions are weak, and many have been compromised. Tied to that, the Maduro regime oversaw a machine that protected all of the related illicit activity.
From a logistics standpoint, Venezuela has served as a bridge between Colombian producers, Caribbean maritime routes, the Mexican cartels, and European and West African markets. Not to mention its close proximity to the U.S.
Last night’s invasion disrupted cartel activity, if temporarily. Its impact will be felt in a number of ways, by affecting airstrip access and ports, and by interrupting cartel money laundering. Trump has already laid a certain claim on the country’s oil assets, which has a direct impact on cartel fuel-smuggling operations.
Since it’s not yet clear just how much of a footprint America’s military will have in Venezuela, it would be a mistake to assume that this latest operation will put an end to all of the cartel activity we’ve seen in recent years. Expect the cartels to modify and adjust.
What’s most likely to happen in the immediate future is that many people, organizations, trafficking routes and operations, will be exposed. This will allow other facets of America’s law enforcement, justice, intelligence, and defense systems to act as appropriate.
A weakened Venezuelan cartel could mean a strengthening of the Mexican cartels, though by reducing the number of cartel threats, the U.S. is, in effect, concentrating the threat and making it somewhat easier to pinpoint.
🚨 BOOM! President Trump FIRES BACK at Mexican President Sheinbaum after she criticized his Maduro capture
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 3, 2026
“She's a good woman, but the cartels are running Mexico. She's not running Mexico — the CARTELS are running Mexico." 🔥💯
pic.twitter.com/3ZgVUYrgU5
According to reports, these other cartels will likely shift their trafficking routes to the Western Caribbean (Honduras, Nicaragua) and the Pacific corridors (Ecuador and Central America), increase their use of Mexican ports and overland smuggling, and even try to use more semi-submersibles and container shipping.
At the same time, expect the American left to go full TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) into a loving embrace with the cartels. The Democrats and the libs have never met a corrupt foreign threat to the U.S. they didn’t like.
So, in short, yesterday’s raid on Venezuela is likely to temporarily disrupt Venezuelan trafficking operations, expose regime-level corruption, and impact supplies and prices of illicit drugs and other trafficking “cargo.” It won’t eliminate the cartels or break Mexican cartel dominance. And while it will have an immediate impact on the flow of drugs into the U.S. over the short term, this one operation won’t likely impact the longterm flow of drugs into the U.S. unless other actions on the part of the Trump administration follow.
Expect the Democrats and the left, including the legacy media, to go all out in their defense of the cartels and their attacks on anything the Trump administration does to undermine them, and ultimately, to use all of this against Trump in the midterms and beyond. When it comes to protecting America first, the Democrats just won’t stand for it.
I can't help but be reminded of when Trump decided to rename the "Gulf of Mexico" to the "Gulf of America." After the past 24 hours, that now makes sense in ways most people weren't thinking at the time.
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