Former UN Deputy Secretary-General and ex-Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Pino Arlacchi firmly rejected any links between the Venezuelan government and a supposed drug cartel, calling Washington’s claims a “fabrication” for political purposes.

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Arlacchi stressed that there is no proof connecting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to the so-called “Los Soles Cartel,” a narrative he deems “geopolitical fiction”.

He added that the allegations are intended to shift focus away from the fentanyl crisis in the United States, a synthetic opioid responsible for roughly 100,000 deaths annually in the country, which has no ties to Venezuela.

The former UN official, who led the preparation of the UNODC World Drug Report for two decades, underscored that Venezuela has never appeared in the report as a drug-producing country or as having significant organized crime related to narcotics.

According to the United Nations’ World Drug Report 2025, Venezuela is neither a major producer nor a key transit hub for cocaine.

In fact, in 2025 Venezuelan authorities have seized more than 60 tons of cocaine – their highest total since 2010. “Los Soles Cartel, per se, doesn’t exist,” says Phil Gunson, a researcher based in Caracas. “It’s a journalistic expression created to refer to the involvement of Venezuelan authorities in drug trafficking.”  

Foreign-policy analyst Zack Ford commented on Washington’s foreign agenda: “The Trump administration is committed to establishing a new Monroe Doctrine of hegemonic dominance over Latin America. This policy will be built through a new war on drugs, deeply intertwined with the war on immigrants that continues to escalate within the United States.”

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