Trump administration formally designates Venezuela's Maduro as member of a foreign terrorist organization

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN Politics

Updated Nov 24, 2025, 1:00 PM ET
PUBLISHED Nov 24, 2025, 5:00 AM ET


The Trump administration could have expanded authority to take action against Venezuela starting Monday, as the US designates Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his government allies as members of a foreign terrorist organization. The designation of “Cartel de los Soles,” a phrase that experts say is more a description of allegedly corrupt government officials than an organized crime group, as a foreign terrorist organization will authorize President Donald Trump to impose fresh sanctions targeting Maduro’s assets and infrastructure.

It doesn’t, however, explicitly authorize the use of lethal force, according to legal experts. Still, administration officials have been making the case that the designation — one of the State Department’s most serious counterterrorism tools — will give the US expanded military options for striking inside Venezuela.

Venezuelan groups within the armed forces linked to drug trafficking, experts say. The Venezuelan president has always denied any personal involvement in drug trafficking, and his government has repeatedly denied the existence of the alleged cartel, which some experts suggest technically doesn’t exist in a conventional sense.

The designation, announced November 16, comes as the US military has amassed more than a dozen warships and 15,000 troops into the region as part of what the Pentagon has branded “Operation Southern Spear.” The US military has killed dozens of people in boat strikes as part of the anti-drug-trafficking campaign.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/24/politics/venezuela-terrorist-designation-maduro

[Fiendish Thingy]

1. So does that mean he can use the post-9/11 AUMF to attack Venezuela? Nt

[AZJonnie]

2. That is one pathetically weasel-worded and credulous article

CNN sucks.

[popsdenver]

16. I'll second that

CNN is nothing anymore than FOX light, along with all the Network stations........

[Wicked Blue]

3. Somebody ought to declare the Orange Traitor as a foreign terrorist

[sop]

6. The Trump administration is an organized crime group full of corrupt government officials, so yeah.

[Easterncedar]

8. And we are becoming an international pariah

[ananda]

13. Both foreign and domestic, for sure!

The horrors Trump and magats are causing
will define our country as utterly shameful,
never to be lived own... yes, that bad.

[BaronChocula]

4. Slotkin and Co. were right

This is a real-time wag the dog with some made up bullshit. I bet after being reminded about the duty to disobey illegal orders a lot of servicepeople are doing some real thinking (and maybe talking) right now.

[Lovie777]

5. Well it sounds like they are going in................

shiny oil.

[hadEnuf]

7. Obviously, Maduro wouldn't play ball with Trump like Argentina did,

so this is what they get. Trump is nothing more than a crime boss.

Wag the dog and then there is all that oil too....

[Initech]

9. No, Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth are members of a terrorist organization.

Yes, Maduro is a murderous grade A scumbag, but so are those two.

[sop]

10. Venezuelan politics was thoroughly corrupt long before Chavez (and later Maduro) came to power.

The country's corruption was fueled by its great oil wealth, historically weak institutions and greedy outside economic interests. The Venezuelan public's opposition to this systemic corruption is what ultimately led to Hugo Chávez's populist takeover. Trump and his henchmen want to take Venezuela back to the "good old days," when foreign oil interests were in control.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

11. Great going TACO Don! The rest of the civilized and Industrialized world HATE us.

To them, we are nothing more than an imperialistic, money hungry country that once was the envy of the world in every category. The United States is not that United, due in part to a DICKtator wanna-be who thinks everything he touches turns to gold.

[Griefbird]

12. Waiting

for China and Russia to declare the US to be a terrorist organization and invade.

[BidenRocks]

14. We should disband Congress as a waste of money.

Aren't tariffs and foreign policy generated by congress?

Where are ya?

[mdbl]

15. The Repugs in Congress are worthless