Guyana supports “dismantling” of criminal networks including Venezuela’s Cartel of the Suns

Last Updated on Saturday, 23 August 2025, 1:23 by Writer

Guyana on Friday said it supports the break up of criminal networks, including the Cartel de los Soles of Venezuela.

“We are committed to working with our bilateral partners to find meaningful solutions and will support regional and global initiatives aimed at dismantling criminal networks to safeguard our shared security,” the Guyana government said in a statement that was tweeted on U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s personal X account.

The Guyana government’s position came about one week after Mr Rubio confirmed that American forces were being deployed to the Southern Caribbean to target narco-terrorism organisations such as Cartel de los Soles which he said was headed by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and had captured the State.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned Cartel de los Soles as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

The Donald Trump administration has also doubled the reward to US$50 million for information leading to Mr Maduro’s arrest.

Guyana says it views with grave concern the threat to peace and security in the region posed by transnational organised crime and narco- terrorism, often involving criminal networks such as the Cartel de los Soles of Venezuela, designated as a terrorist organisation by some countries in the region.

“Such criminal networks have the capacity to overwhelm state institutions, undermine democracy, pervert the rule of law and threaten human dignity and development,” the Irfaan Ali administration said.

The Guyana government says it underscores the necessity for strengthened cooperation and concerted efforts at the national, regional, hemispheric and global levels to effectively combat the menace.

In keeping with a commitment made by President Ali, Guyana says it reaffirms its support for a collaborative and integrated approach to tackle transnational organised crime.

By confronting transnational organised crime and narco- terrorism with unity, Guyana says “we reaffirm our dedication to upholding the rule of law and ensuring that the region remains a Zone of Peace.”

Mr Rubio earlier this week said the Cartel de los Soles, also known as Cartel of the Suns, is masquerading as Venezuela’s government and posing a threat to American oil companies in Guyana.

“The Maduro regime is not a government, is not a legitimate government. We never recognised them as such. They are a criminal enterprise that basically has taken control of a national territory, of a country and who, by the way, are also threatening U.S. oil companies that are operating lawfully in Guyana,” Mr Rubio told reporters at the State Department.