Trump floats Venezuela talks as US designates Prez Maduro a 'terrorist'

By Eric Martin and Wendy Benjaminson

 

The US plans to designate a Venezuelan drug cartel it alleges is led by Nicolas Maduro as a foreign terrorist organization even as US President Donald Trump said Sunday that talks with the government may be possible.

 

The latest terror designation, which will take effect on Nov. 24, would help expand the legal case for more aggressive action as the US masses military assets in the Caribbean after months of deadly boat strikes.

 

On Sunday, Trump told reporters he hasn’t made a decision on next steps, but that the Venezuelan government wants to talk to the US.

 

“We may be having some discussions with Maduro and we’ll see how that turns out,” Trump said as he left Florida to return to the White House.

 

The new terror designation follows a more than two-month campaign of lethal attacks on alleged drug-running boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean, which have killed about 80 people. The latest attack was on Saturday, according to US Southern Command, killing three people.

 

In addition to banning entry of members of the Cartel de los Soles to the US and allowing the US government to seize the organization’s funds, Sunday’s step criminalizes support for the organization.

 

“Based in Venezuela, the Cartel de los Soles is headed by Nicolas Maduro and other high-ranking individuals of the illegitimate Maduro regime who have corrupted Venezuela’s military, intelligence, legislature, and judiciary,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement on Sunday. “Neither Maduro nor his cronies represent Venezuela’s legitimate government.”

 

While the US labeled Tren de Aragua, another Venezuelan group, as a foreign terrorist organization in February, and has alleged connection between the group and at least one of the boats it has blown up, the US had held off on the same designation for Cartel de los Soles until now. The tag puts the group on the same level with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, groups the US has targeted not only financially but militarily in the Middle East for years as part of the war on terror.

 

On Sunday, a US strike group led by the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, arrived in the Caribbean Sea. That bolsters an already greatly expanded US military presence off the coast of South America that has fanned speculation of a broader attack on Venezuela.

 

The Treasury Department in July deemed the cartel a specially designated global terrorist group, a sanctions tool that causes some financial isolation.

 

“They are likely looking for more ways to justify military action if they decide to do so,” said Brian Nichols, who was the State Department’s top official for the Western Hemisphere in the Biden administration. “This is a more political designation than one based on new information.”

 

Trump said Friday he had “sort of made up my mind” when asked if he had come to a decision on next steps with Venezuela. “I can’t tell you what it is, but we made a lot of progress with Venezuela in terms of stopping drugs from pouring in,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One last week.