November 24, 2025, the Department of Justice formally recognized the existence of this group, which is led by Maduro and his Interior Minister, Diosdado Cabello. This designation coincides with the intensification of the Trump administration's pressure strategy on its Venezuelan counterpart through a growing military deployment in the southern Caribbean, which the White House says aims to combat drug trafficking. The U.S. military operation has resulted in the summary destruction of about two dozen boats apparently loaded with drugs and the death of 83 of their occupants. In July of this year, the U.S. Treasury Department designated the Cartel of the Soles as a specially designated global terrorist group (SDGT), although the Venezuelan government then asserted that this organization is an 'invention' of Washington. Although U.S. authorities claim that the Cartel of the Soles is a group composed mainly of Venezuelan military personnel (the name supposedly comes from the insignia worn by generals), the investigations of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) were not officially made public until March 2020, during Trump's first term in office.
