The Senate plenary session approved the proposal declaring the Cartel of the Suns a "transnational criminal and terrorist organization."

The Senate approved a declaration recognizing the so-called "Cartel of the Suns" as a " transnational criminal and terrorist organization" that poses a direct threat to national and regional security.

"The security of Colombians and the region demands firm decisions against structures like the Cartel of the Suns, which have been linked to drug trafficking and terrorism," the Senate stated in the official document after the proposal was approved with 33 votes in favor and 20 against.

The Senate explained that its decision was based on the constitutional duty to " protect all persons residing in Colombia: their lives, property, rights, and freedoms," as well as on the country's international commitments.

The document, shared on social media by several senators, recalled that in March 2020, the United States Department of Justice indicted Nicolás Maduro, Diosdado Cabello, Hugo Carvajal , and other senior officials for narco-terrorism and for leading the "Cartel de los Soles" in collaboration with the FARC.

Similarly, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated the Cartel of the Suns as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist Organization."

According to the Senate's statement, this decision was due to the fact that the "criminal organization" allegedly provided financial, material, and technological support to foreign terrorist groups such as the Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel.

The above "directly exposed the role of Nicolás Maduro's regime in facilitating narco-terrorism, the institutional corruption of the Venezuelan state, and the use of drug trafficking as a tool for international destabilization."

Several countries, such as Ecuador, Argentina, and Paraguay, have already officially classified the Cartel of the Suns as a narco-terrorist organization and a direct threat to the security of their citizens. Meanwhile, in Peru, debate is underway on a motion seeking to issue a similar declaration.

In this context, the Colombian Senate decided to politically declare the Cartel of the Suns as "a transnational criminal organization involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, and financing of terrorist groups."

The Senate Plenary clarified in the document that the Colombian State "is a party to international instruments that require cooperation and the adoption of effective measures against transnational organized crime and terrorism ." Thus, it indicated that its obligation is to act with "firmness and good faith."

Following the Senate's approval of the proposal, some members of the Senate expressed their views. Senator Jota Pe Hernández , of the Green Alliance, supported the initiative and asserted on social media that the "Cartel of the Suns" "is doing a lot of harm to the region."

On the other hand, Congresswoman Isabel Cristina Zuleta, of the Historic Pact , questioned the decision and denied the existence of such an organization, stating that it is a political strategy promoted by Washington. "This cartel does not exist and is a United States invention to pressure our Colombian Caribbean," she stated.

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