President Donald Trump’s administration is set to ramp up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Monday by designating the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization.
The designation is the latest measure in the Trump administration’s escalating campaign to combat drug trafficking into the U.S. The move planned Monday comes as Trump evaluates whether to take military action against Venezuela, which Trump has not ruled out despite bringing up the possibility of talks with Maduro. Land strikes or other actions would be a major expansion of the monthslong operation that has included a massive military buildup in the Caribbean Sea and striking boats accused of trafficking drugs, killing more than 80 people.
But the entity that the U.S. government alleges is led by Maduro is not a cartel per se. Venezuelans began using the term Cartel de los Soles in the 1990s to refer to high-ranking military officers who had grown rich from drug-running.
As corruption later expanded nationwide, first under the late President Hugo Chávez and then under Maduro, its use loosely expanded to police and government officials as well as activities like illegal mining and fuel trafficking. The “suns” in the name refer to the epaulettes affixed to the uniforms of high-ranking military officers.
The turbulence caused by the longest government shutdown on record may still be fresh on travelers’ minds this Thanksgiving, but experts say preparing for the usual holiday crush of winter weather, heavy traffic and crowded airports can help ease those jitters.
“I think the shutdown at this point is history for air travel. The airlines understand this time of year so well. They know exactly what they need to do,” said Sheldon H. Jacobson, an airport and airlines operations expert. “The real challenge is making sure travelers can help themselves.”
A Wisconsin woman who admitted to nearly stabbing a classmate to death at age 12 to please the online horror character Slender Man is missing after she cut off an electronic monitoring device and left a group home, authorities said Sunday.
Madison police issued an alert Sunday for Morgan Geyser, now 23, saying she was last seen around 8 p.m. Saturday with an adult acquaintance.
“If you see Geyser, please call 911,” the alert said, adding that she had cut off a “Department of Corrections monitoring bracelet.”
Hamlet Sargsyan can be reached at sarg2219@stthomas.edu.
