Overview
- References to the term fall from 32 in the 2020 SDNY case to two in the 2026 filing, which calls it a patronage system run by senior officials.
- Prosecutors add charges including narco‑terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, and firearms offenses, and accuse Cilia Flores of taking bribes to broker trafficking meetings.
- Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores were seized in Caracas and arraigned in Manhattan, where both pleaded not guilty.
- The State Department had designated the so‑called group a terrorist organization allegedly led by Maduro, a position that clashes with the DOJ’s revised description.
- Researchers and reporters say the label originated as Venezuelan slang for corruption, and neither the UN World Drug Report nor the DEA’s National Drug Threat Assessment lists a cartel by that name.