New York, New York - The Department of Justice has decided to abandon a baseless claim from President Donald Trump that deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro is head of a powerful drug cartel.

According to The New York Times, the DOJ drafted an indictment against Maduro in 2020 that referenced a supposed drug cartel named "Cartel de los Soles" 32 times and accused Maduro of being its leader.

But after the US military captured Maduro over the weekend at Trump's order, the DOJ penned an updated indictment, which appears to back away from the allegation.

The new indictment only mentions "Cartel de los Soles" twice, describing it as a "culture of corruption," and instead accuses Maduro of having participated in, perpetuated, protected, and benefited from drug trafficking.

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The indictment argued the profits from such trafficking "flow to corrupt rank-and-file civilian, military, and intelligence officials, who operate in a patronage system run by those at the top – referred to as the Cartel de los Soles or Cartel of the Suns, a reference to the sun insignia affixed to the uniforms of high-ranking Venezuelan military officials."

Throughout 2025, Trump repeatedly pushed the narrative that Maduro was the head of "Cartel de los Soles," which he claimed was responsible for bringing deadly drugs, such as fentanyl, into the US.

In July, the Treasury Department designated Cartel de los Soles as a terrorist organization, and in November, the State Department did the same.

In hindsight, the president and his administration appeared to be laying the groundwork for their planned invasion of the country, but the DOJ's decision to drop the claim from Maduro's prosecution puts Trump's claims, the government's designations, and the attack on Venezuela under heavy scrutiny.

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Experts in Latin American drugs and crime issues have repeatedly pointed out that "Cartel de los Soles" is not the name of a cartel, but instead a slang term that originated in Venezuela in the 1990s to describe officials who are corrupted by drug money.

Nonetheless, Secretary of State Marc Rubio referred to "Cartel de los Soles" as a "transnational criminal organization" following the new indictment in an interview, adding that "the leader of that cartel is now in US custody."