DOJ admits that Maduro drug cartel Trump cited to justify Venezuela strike doesn’t actually exist

The 2020 indictment refers to the cartel 32 times and says Maduro is the leader of the organization.
The State Department and the Treasury Department under Trump last year designated Cartel de los Soles as a terrorist organization.
But Latin America experts have countered that “Cartel de los Soles” is actually a slang phrase coined in the 1990s by the Venezuelan media to describe government officials who accept narco money as bribes.
A revised DOJ document issued after Maduro’s capture now claims Maduro only supported the drug-money patronage system, along with his predecessor and mentor, President Hugo Chávez.

Also

Sheinbaum questions why US allowed in 17 relatives of ‘El Chapo’
https://www.borderreport.com/hot-topics/border-crime/sheinbaum-questions-why-us-allowed-in-17-relatives-of-el-chapo/

Trump Pardons Juan Orlando Hernanzez convicted of importing 400 tons of cocaine into the us.
https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/juan-orlando-hernandez-former-president-honduras-sentenced-45-years-prison-conspiring

https://www.wola.org/analysis/juan-orlando-hernandez-pardon-implications-for-u-s-foreign-policy/

As the former two-term president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández had every opportunity to affect positive change for his country," said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York. "Instead, Hernández helped to facilitate the importation of an almost unfathomable 400 TONS OF COCAINE to this country: BILLIONS OF INDIVIDUAL DOSES sent to the United States with the protection and support of the former president of Honduras. Now, after years of destructive narco-trafficking of the highest imaginable magnitude, Hernández will spend 45 years where he belongs: in federal prison.”

Honduras seeks re arrest of hernandez following pardon.
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/09/g-s1-101277/honduras-seeks-arrest-hernandez-trump-pardon

Trump Pardons Silk Road drug/weapon/sex trafficking website founder.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz7e0jve875o

Trump praises Duterte's Extrajudicial Drug Crackdown
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/24/trump-rodrigo-duterte-call-transcript-238758

Duterte family implicated in massive Asian Meth Smuggling Operation.
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3275759/bombshell-claims-link-philippines-duterte-clan-massive-meth-smuggling-scheme

Duterte Charged with Crimes against humanity for the extrajudicial murders of thousands of accused drug users, journalists and others. Awaiting trial at the Haugue.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/international-criminal-court-details-crimes-against-humanity-charges-against-former-philippine-president-duterte

Whitehouse Dr and Trump personal Physician dispenses thousands of doses of controlled drugs, including injectable liquid fentanyl to whitehouse staff while concealing their identities in paperwork. Gets demoted from admiral to captain.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adaw.34019