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How UW Sanctions Fueled Venezuelan Cartels // GrayZone News
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How U.S. Sanctions Fueled Venezuelan Cartels
U.S. sanctions on Venezuela were intended to weaken Nicolás Maduro’s government. Instead, they collapsed the economy, unleashed mass migration, and created conditions that allowed powerful criminal cartels like Tren de Aragua to thrive. What began as a political pressure campaign turned into a driver of organized crime across Latin America .
From Politics to Criminalization
Initially, Washington framed its strategy in Venezuela around democracy promotion and support for opposition figure Juan Guaidó. But by 2020, after the failed “Operation Gideon” incursion, U.S. officials shifted tactics. As former Attorney General William Barr put it, the conflict was no longer political but a “security matter.” Maduro was indicted as a drug trafficker, and Venezuela was recast as a narco-state — regardless of evidence to the contrary .
Sanctions and Economic Collapse
Sanctions devastated Venezuela’s oil industry, wiping out 99% of its revenues by 2019. With the economy in free fall, criminal organizations filled the vacuum. Groups like Tren de Aragua, which originated in prisons, expanded by exploiting scarcity, smuggling, and extortion rackets. U.S. pressure to block Venezuela from trade only deepened the black-market economy that cartels could dominate .
Migration and Cross-Border Expansion
Sanctions also drove millions of Venezuelans to flee, creating one of the largest migrant crises in the world. Tren de Aragua capitalized on this mass displacement, moving operations into Colombia, Peru, Chile, and beyond. Criminal gangs leveraged migrants as a labor pool and as targets for exploitation through extortion, trafficking, and protection rackets. The cartel transformed from a local gang into a transnational network, mirroring groups like Brazil’s PCC and Colombia’s Bacrim .
Tren de Aragua: The Case Study
Tren de Aragua illustrates how sanctions acted as fertilizer for crime. Born in Aragua state’s Tocorón prison, it grew rapidly during the sanctions era, diversifying into kidnapping, drug trafficking, and migrant smuggling. By the time the U.S. labeled it a major threat, its strength came not from Maduro’s support — as alleged — but from the chaos created by economic collapse and migration pressures. Even U.S. intelligence later admitted the gang had no real ties to Maduro .
The Cartel de los Soles Narrative
To justify escalation, Washington revived the idea of the “Cartel de los Soles,” accusing Venezuelan generals and Maduro himself of running a drug empire. In reality, the label originated decades earlier in CIA-linked scandals and resurfaced whenever politically convenient. Despite flimsy evidence, it provided a legal and rhetorical basis for indictments and sanctions, similar to how Noriega was branded a drug lord before the U.S. invaded Panama .
Regional Fallout
The sanctions-fueled criminal boom had ripple effects across Latin America. Migrant crises strained neighboring countries like Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador, where Venezuelan gangs embedded themselves. Rising xenophobia and social tensions followed. Meanwhile, drug flows to the U.S. still came primarily from Colombia and Ecuador, yet Venezuela was cast as the epicenter of narco-trafficking — a narrative more useful for regime-change politics than accurate law enforcement .
Far from dismantling Maduro’s power, U.S. sanctions crippled Venezuela’s economy and opened the door for criminal cartels to flourish. Tren de Aragua and other megabandas grew into regional forces, feeding off the desperation of migrants and the weakness of institutions. The U.S. turned a political dispute into a criminal war — and in doing so, helped create the very security crisis it claimed to be fighting .
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