JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has officially designated Venezuela's so-called Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization, citing its role in drug trafficking. The U.S. alleges the cartel is run by President Nicolas Maduro and top Venezuelan military officers. This comes amid a buildup of U.S. troops and warships in the Caribbean Sea, raising expectations of an armed strike inside Venezuela. For more we go now to reporter John Otis, who is in neighboring Colombia. Hi there.
JOHN OTIS, BYLINE: Hi. Good afternoon.
SUMMERS: So John, just start by telling us - what do we know about this Cartel de los Soles?
OTIS: Cartel de los Soles is Spanish for cartel of the suns, and it refers to the sun insignia on the uniforms of Venezuelan generals. The U.S. contends that the Cartel de los Soles is made up of high-ranking military officers and that they're led by Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro, and that it's sending tons of illegal drugs into the U.S. For its part, the Venezuelan government is rejecting this designation. Today, it called it a, quote, "ridiculous fabrication" and insisted that there's no such thing as the Cartel de los Soles. InSight Crime, which is a foundation that studies organized crime in Latin America, says the U.S. is oversimplifying. It says the Cartel de los Soles is more like a system of corruption in which military and political officers profit by working in cahoots with Venezuelan drug traffickers.
SUMMERS: And let's talk a bit about this terrorist designation. What will it allow the Trump administration to do?
OTIS: It gives U.S. law enforcement and military agencies broader powers and more tools to target and dismantle the Cartel de los Soles. But that's really hard to do. The State Department actually has a very long list of foreign terrorist organizations, from Venezuela's Tren de Aragua to the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico. And these groups are still alive and well. But in the case of the Cartel de los Soles, because Maduro is directly implicated, it's sort of like blacklisting his government as illegitimate. And it comes as the U.S. has positioned warships, including this massive aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, near the coast of Venezuela. So this designation could be another way to justify some kind of a military attack on Venezuela. Now, with all that being said, President Maduro in Venezuela doesn't seem especially concerned.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT NICOLAS MADURO: (Chanting) Yes, peace.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MADURO: (Chanting) Yes, peace.
OTIS: Now that's Maduro at a meeting with university students where he was all smiles and he broke into an impromptu dance to promote peace, and he was using a remix of his own words.
SUMMERS: So John, what do you think the U.S.'s endgame is here? Is this big military buildup really about drugs? Or is the Trump administration pushing for a regime change in Venezuela?
OTIS: It's unclear because Trump is really unpredictable. He said that he's been willing to negotiate with Maduro, but he's also said that Maduro's days are numbered. Now, the prospect of a full-fledged U.S. invasion seems unlikely because the U.S. has only about 15,000 troops in the Caribbean, and that's not enough to take over Venezuela, which is bigger than Texas. The U.S. could try a catch-and-kill operation, similar to the raid on Osama bin Laden. But unlike bin Laden, Maduro's surrounded himself with fiercely loyal officers whose own fortunes are tied to his.
Officially, the U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean is an antidrug mission, and they've destroyed dozens of alleged drug boats. And it would be easier for the U.S. to stick to this anti-narcotics mission. But that would likely leave Maduro in power, so he could boast that he stood up to the Americans and that they turned around and went home.
SUMMERS: Reporter John Otis in the Colombian capital of Bogota. Thank you.
OTIS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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