US President Donald Trump has designated Venezuela's Cartel de los Soles a foreign terrorist organisation amid increasing tensions with the South American country.
The organisation has been accused by US officials of trafficking drugs into the United States and that senior Venezuelan officials, including President Nicolás Maduro, are part of the group.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio last week said the cartel was responsible for "terrorist violence" in the Western Hemisphere and the group would be designated a terror organisation, allowing US law enforcement to take stronger action.
Venezuela's foreign ministry on Monday rejected what it called "the new and ridiculous lie" which it said aimed "to justify an illegitimate and illegal intervention against Venezuela".
Maduro appeared at two public events on Monday without mentioning the designation, instead reiterating that Venezuela will remain triumphant.
"Whatever they do, wherever they do it, however they do it, they will not be able to defeat Venezuela. We are invincible," Maduro said during his weekly television program.
What is the Cartel de les Soles or the Cartel of the Suns?
The term began being used in the 1990s by Venezuelans to describe high-ranking officials who had made money from drug-trafficking and later expanded to police and other illegal activities as corruption grew.
The name is a reference to the sun insignia worn by Venezuelan generals.
InSight Crime, a foundation that analyses organised crime, said in August that it was an "oversimplification" to say Maduro heads the cartel.
"[It] is more accurately described as a system of corruption wherein military and political officials profit by working with drug traffickers," it said.
Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said it was "very likely" Maduro was at least aware of some military complicity with cocaine traffickers.
"But does that mean he is directing its movements and coordinating the drug flows? We have never had the information publicly to say," he said.
Terror designation follows months of strikes
Maduro faces escalating pressure from Trump's military buildup in the Caribbean, raising concerns that the US may seek to use the designation to justify military action.
Trump has been posting vision of alleged drug boats being destroyed by the US military. Source: Truth Social / Donald Trump
For months, the US has waged a campaign of deadly strikes against suspected drug trafficking boats off the Venezuelan coast and the Pacific coast of Latin America.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said the designation would bring "a whole bunch of new options to the United States," in excerpts released on Thursday from an interview with One America News.
Maduro alleging US pushing regime change
Maduro and his government have always denied any involvement in crime and have accused the US of seeking regime change out of a desire to control Venezuela's natural resources, especially its vast oil reserves.
"They want Venezuela’s oil and gas reserves. For nothing, without paying. They want Venezuela’s gold. They want Venezuela’s diamonds, iron, bauxite. They want Venezuela’s natural resources," oil minister Delcy Rodriguez said in comments on state television.
Trump has said repeatedly he is not pursuing regime change.
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