Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Sunday that the State Department would be designating the so-called Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, as a "Foreign Terrorist Organization" - though many analysts and reporters have questioned whether the group actually exists.

"Based in Venezuela, the Cartel de los Soles is headed by Nicolás Maduro and other high-ranking individuals of the illegitimate Maduro regime who have corrupted Venezuela’s military, intelligence, legislature, and judiciary," the official US statement said. "Neither Maduro nor his cronies represent Venezuela’s legitimate government."

At a moment of unprecedented US military build-up off Venezuela, including the presence of the USS Ford carrier strike group, Rubio's statement laid out, "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."

But AntiWar.com's Dave DeCamp outlines the case for skepticism:

The term "Cartel of the Suns" was first used in the 1990s, before Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, came to power, to describe two Venezuelan military generals with sun insignias on their uniforms who were involved in the drug trade. One of the generals was working with the CIA at the time, according to a 1993 60 Minutes report.

Today, the term is used to describe Venezuelan military and government officials who allegedly profit from drug trafficking, but the Cartel of the Suns doesn't exist as a structured organization.

And according to the investigative source, InSight Crime, quoted in AFP: "Rather than a hierarchical organization with Maduro directing drug trafficking strategies, the Cartel of the Suns is more accurately described as a system of corruption wherein military and political officials profit by working with drug traffickers." Further: 

Yet in March, the latest US State Department report on global anti-drug operations made no mention of the "Cartel de los Soles" or any connection between Maduro and narco trafficking.

Typically mainstream media parrots whatever US national security officials say when it comes to Venezuela or any other 'official enemy'; however, there's lately been a surprising degree of MSM pushback on the "Cartel of the Suns" moniker...

Trump admin officials spent the weekend in media interviews also resurrecting the "Hezbollah in Latin America" threat, a talking point which hearkens back to when Mike Pompeo was Secretary of State during Trump's first term.

Currently Hezbollah and Iran are alleged to be colluding with alleged Venezuelan narco-trafficking in a vast global plot, but which as usual comes without much or any in the way of concrete evidence. While Hezbollah and Iran may have at one time been active in establishing working relationships in this region, the current reality is that Hezbollah's leadership was decimated starting last year in the war with Israel, and Iran too finds itself on a backfoot facing multiple crises at home.

Neither entity is likely capable of currently projecting power in the Caribbean region or stands to gain much by provoking Washington's wrath, especially with such a large American force presence. 

This weekend also saw a second round of US military exercises based out of American regional ally Trinidad and Tobago. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro blasted the drills as "irresponsible."

"The government of Trinidad and Tobago has once again announced irresponsible exercises, lending its waters off the coast of Sucre state for military exercises that are intended to be threatening to a republic like Venezuela, which does not allow itself to be threatened by anyone," Maduro said from Caracas.

The so-called Cartel de los Soles is a concept that is so loose that it simply encompasses the Venezuelan state leadership itself..

His government has further announce a "massive" retaliatory deployment as the US carrier group arrived. This involves a large civilian militia force being put on high alert, though these are mostly unarmed and untrained local citizens.

As for the "Cartel of the Suns" designation, it is scheduled to go into effect on November 24. "Once the designation takes effect, all property and interests in property belonging to the named individuals or entities that fall under US jurisdiction will be blocked and must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)," one international media source explains. "Entities owned 50% or more — directly or indirectly — by one or more blocked persons will also be subject to the same restrictions."