Secretary of State Marco Rubio is sharply criticizing Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro as the country holds municipal elections on Sunday to fill hundreds of mayoral posts and thousands of local council seats.
The elections come just one day before the one-year anniversary of Venezuela’s presidential race, which was widely condemned by the United States and international observers as illegitimate. The Trump administration has ramped up pressure on Maduro in recent days, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accusing him on Friday of leading an organization that supports terrorism against the United States.
“One year since dictator Nicolás Maduro defied the will of the Venezuelan people by baselessly declaring himself the winner, the United States remains firm in its unwavering support to Venezuela’s restoration of democratic order and justice,” Rubio said in a statement on Sunday. “Maduro is not the President of Venezuela and his regime is not the legitimate government.”
“Maduro is the leader of the designated narco-terrorist organization Cartel de Los Soles, and he is responsible for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe,” Rubio continued. “Maduro, currently indicted by our nation, has corrupted Venezuela’s institutions to assist the cartel’s criminal narco-trafficking scheme into the United States.”
In March 2020, the Justice Department charged Maduro and 14 other current and former Venezuelan officials with narco-terrorism, corruption, drug trafficking, and other crimes. Earlier this year—just 10 days before President Donald Trump returned to office—the State Department raised the reward for information leading to Maduro’s capture from $15 million to as much as $25 million, Fox News reports.
“For years, Maduro and his cronies have manipulated Venezuela’s electoral system to maintain their illegitimate grip on power,” Rubio added on Sunday. “By scheduling the municipal elections on the eve of the anniversary of the stolen July 28 presidential election, the regime once again aims to deploy the military and police to suppress the will of the Venezuelan people.”
“The United States will continue working with our partners to hold accountable the corrupt, criminal, and illegitimate Maduro regime. Those who steal elections and use force to grasp power undermine America’s national security interests,” Rubio said.
Maduro has served as Venezuela’s president since 2013, but the United States has not recognized his presidency since 2019. Following the July 2024 election, the U.S. and several other nations refused to acknowledge his alleged victory, citing widespread electoral fraud, Fox noted further.
The Treasury Department on Friday identified the Cartel de los Soles, also known as Cartel of the Suns, as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist.” The Trump administration alleges that Cartel de los Soles is led by Maduro and other high-ranking Venezuelan officials within his regime “who corrupted the institutions of government in Venezuela, including parts of the military, intelligence apparatus, legislature, and the judiciary, to assist the cartel’s endeavors of trafficking narcotics into the United States.”
The U.S. alleges that the Venezuela-based group provides material support to both Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel. In February, the Trump administration officially designated both criminal organizations as foreign terrorist groups.
The Treasury Department notes that the name “Cartel de los Soles” originates from the sun emblems commonly seen on the uniforms of Venezuelan military officers.
The cartel “supports Tren de Aragua in carrying out its objective of using the flood of illegal narcotics as a weapon against the United States,” according to the Treasury Department.
On Friday, Bessent said that the new action taken by Treasury “exposes the illegitimate Maduro regime’s facilitation of narco-terrorism through terrorist groups like Cartel de los Soles.”
“The Treasury Department will continue to execute on President Trump’s pledge to put America First by cracking down on violent organizations, including Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa Cartel, and their facilitators, like Cartel de los Soles,” he added.