US To Designate Alleged Maduro-led Cartel As Terrorist Group

e United States plans to classify a cartel that it says Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro runs as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday, as tensions soar between the two countries.

"Cartel de los Soles by and with other designated FTOs including Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel are responsible for terrorist violence throughout our hemisphere as well as for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe," Rubio said in a statement.

The designation follows a huge US military buildup in the Caribbean which Washington states is necessary to prevent drug smuggling into the United States.

But Caracas claims it is really a ploy to overthrow its leftist president Maduro, who Washington considers an illegitimate leader and a drug lord -- a charge that he denies.