To justify war on Venezuela, the US labels President Maduro “one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world.” Yet, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s World Drug Report 2025 explains that cocaine — the drug most associated with South America — is primarily produced in Colombia, Peru, or Bolivia and transported via ports in Ecuador to the US. Venezuela is not mentioned at all in the 98-page document, which catalogs producers, consumers, suppliers and supply lines of drugs. The Drug Enforcement Agency’s own 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment report essentially agrees with the U.N. Indeed, the 90-page document touches on Venezuela in only two paragraphs on a single page. The section addresses Tren de Aragua’s (TDA) criminal activities, but does not attempt to link them to the Venezuelan government.
A National Intelligence Council report concedes that: “The Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the US.” While Tren de Aragua might be far less powerful than it is often depicted, it at least exists, something which cannot be said for the Cartel of the Suns, the drug-running syndicate supposedly headed by Maduro himself. Experts largely agree that the group is fictional. President Maduro said most of the profits from the drug trade stay in the US. “85% of the billions from international drug trafficking each year are in banks in the US. That is where the cartel is; let them investigate and uncover it. There is $500 billion in the US banking system, in reputable banks. If they want to investigate a cartel, let them investigate the one up north. It is from the US that all drug trafficking is directed towards South America and the rest of the world. They also control the opium trade, and more. It is in the United States where the mafias are, where the real cartels operate.”
Secretary of State Rubio, whose own family is deeply intertwined with the world of drug smuggling. Rubio’s brother-in-law, Orlando Cicilia, is a former drug runner who served 12 years in a Florida prison for crimes related to the smuggling and distribution of cocaine. Rubio maintains a close relationship with Cicilia: after the latter’s release from prison, he used his political position to pressure a Florida regulator to grant him a real estate license. Across much of Latin America, the Secretary of State has long been known by critics as “Narco Rubio.”
In 2014, Juan Orlando Hernández came to power in Honduras following a U.S.-backed coup. He quickly began using his position to enrich himself, allying with the infamous Sinaloa Cartel. Last year, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison for distributing more than 400 tons of cocaine into the US. Throughout his crimes, the U.S. government supported his administration, working to ensure the left did not return to power. Going further back, the Reagan administration funded, trained and armed the Contra death squads in Nicaragua, in an attempt to overthrow the leftist Sandinista Party.
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