MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ecuador declares Cártel de los Solas a terrorist group

Noboa has ordered Ecuador's National Intelligence Center to analyze the group's influence within his country's criminal gangs

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa officially declared the “Cartel de los Soles” a terrorist group. Noboa's decree on Thursday aligns with a similar designation made by the US Republican administration of President Donald Trump in July.

Washington has accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of leading the group, alleging its involvement in drug trafficking and terrorism. Attorney General Pam Bondi recently stated that the US has confiscated over US$700 million in assets from Maduro. In addition, the reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest has been upped to US$50 million.

President Noboa has ordered Ecuador's National Intelligence Center to analyze the group's influence within his country's criminal gangs and to coordinate with international intelligence agencies to combat it. This move comes as part of Noboa's broader “war” against criminal gangs and strengthens Ecuador's security cooperation with the U.S.

In this scenario, Venezuelan officials, including Interior and Justice Minister Diosdado Cabello, have rejected the accusations, calling them an “invention” of the United States.

Maduro was charged by the United States during Donald Trump's first term in 2020 with drug trafficking and terrorism. Specifically, Washington claims that this group is led by Maduro and high-ranking officials and military personnel of the Venezuelan government.

The administration of US President Donald Trump is waging a war against drug cartels. The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) maintains that the group “provides material support” to the Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua and the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel.

Hence, Noboa “decided to identify the Cartel de los Soles as an organized crime terrorist group” because it “constitutes a threat to the national population, the established order, and the sovereignty and integrity of the state.”

Last year, Noboa declared an internal armed conflict in the country to combat some 20 criminal gangs engaged in drug trafficking, extortion, illegal mining, and kidnapping. The measure allows him to deploy the Armed Forces in the streets to carry out controls alongside the police.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted Thursday that the Nicolás Maduro Government was “a criminal organization.”

”The only drug cartel operating in full view of the world is the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration)“ of the United States,” Cabello argued.