Venezuela, Cuba, and Mexican cartels: How crime and politics quietly intersect
Crime and politics intersect across Venezuela, Cuba and Mexican cartels, where state actors, intelligence networks and guerrilla groups enable cocaine trafficking, gold laundering and safe havens, pushing the US to label Venezuela’s Cartel of the Suns a terrorist threat.
The 'Cartel of the Suns'
In Venezuela, crime and the state are one. InSight Crime explains that the 'Cartel of the Suns' is not a typical gang but a network of high-ranking military and government officials who use state infrastructure airports, radars, and ports to traffic cocaine with total impunity.
Mexico’s 'Strategic Rearguard' Sinaloa’s Safe Haven
Mexican groups like the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG have shifted operations to Venezuela to escape pressure at home.
The US State Department reports that these cartels pay Venezuelan officials for safe passage, using the country as a secure warehouse and launchpad for global shipments.
Weaponising Drug Flows
Intelligence reports allege Cuba advised Venezuela to use drug trafficking as a weapon against the US. Former intelligence chief Hugo Carvajal testified that Havana suggested flooding American streets with cocaine to destabilise society while funding revolutionary regimes, a tactic known as "asymmetric warfare".
The Intelligence Shield
Cuba provides the brain, Venezuela provides the brawn. Cuba Siglo 21 notes that Havana’s vast intelligence network in Venezuela (the 'Cubazuela' structure) helps vet military officers and root out dissent, ensuring the loyalty of the generals running the drug trade.
Guerillas as Middlemen FARC and ELN Integration
Politics and crime merge at the border, where Colombian rebels (FARC/ELN) operate freely. Human Rights Watch confirms these groups, ideologically aligned with Caracas and Havana, act as armed guards for cocaine routes, taxing Mexican cartels in exchange for protection.
Cocaine Nexus
The alliance relies on a dual economy of drugs and illegal gold. OECD analysts highlight that Venezuelan state actors use gold mining to launder drug profits for Mexican cartels, allowing them to bypass US banking sanctions and move billions in 'untraceable' wealth.
US designated the Cartel of the Suns as a 'Foreign Terrorist Organisation
The intersection of these state and criminal actors forced a historic shift. In late 2025, the US designated the Cartel of the Suns as a 'Foreign Terrorist Organisation' (FTO), legally recognising that this alliance is no longer just a crime problem, but a national security threat.
)
)
)
)
)