A shift in the landscape has led to the Cartel of the Suns and the Maduro regime being redefined as threats to regional security with Donald Trump’s return to the White House. The year 2025—on the verge of conclusion—became a turning point in the prevailing international order.
This and other significant changes in the prevailing globalism during the Biden era and its break with Trump’s return to the presidency of the United States were analyzed by Hugo Achá, Bernardo Henao Jaramillo, and Matías Jove with Venezuela Política and Sin Filtros.
The panel examined how the Trump administration emphasizes Venezuela and Cuba’s roles as threats to regional security within a framework of criminal organizations. It also discussed how global consensus was dismantled to prioritize a direct power policy in a confrontation against China’s strategic influence and the rise of organized transnational crime.
They highlighted the evolving conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, noting that the boundaries between war and peace have become blurred due to hybrid tactics. They warned of the collapse of multilateralism and the urgent need to combat misinformation in a new era of geopolitical confrontation.
Venezuela: From Regional Threat to Global Threat
The panel referred to Venezuela, where one of the most significant strategic turns of 2025 occurred, involving a change in how Venezuela is perceived as a threat to the United States and its allies.
Venezuela is part of a strategic alliance with China and Russia, acting as one of their “satellite regimes” or puppets in the East versus West struggle. In 2025, the Trump administration shifted its view of the country from a dictatorship to classifying it as a “global threat” and a “designated foreign terrorist organization.” This represents a strategic penal and military line, including harsh sanctions and oil seizures.
This new definition legitimizes a foreign policy that transcends bilateral diplomacy. It is not simply a matter of US-Venezuela relations but rather a relationship with a terrorist organization that has usurped power. This opens the door to actions such as:
- Oil seizures.
- Tougher sanctions.
- Use of “military language.”
The extent of this new vision culminates in the operation “Southern Spear,” which, according to a recent statement by Donald Trump himself, launched an attack on facilities linked to the regime, although without providing specific details. This new perspective defines the Venezuelan regime as a “large transnational criminal corporation” that usurps the state for control.
Hugo Achá noted that the Cartel of the Suns—designated on November 24, 2024, by the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization—is “one and the same” as the regimes of Caracas and Havana.
He pointed out that Russia benefits from the illicit cycle in Venezuela, but that Russian support has diminished to empty words as the US erodes Moscow’s capabilities.
Achá emphasized that the Maduro regime and the Cartel of the Suns constitute an equation with China for the strategic use of fentanyl against the US.
He denounced how Venezuela still contests the narrative control against the United States in bodies like the United Nations Security Council.
Meanwhile, Matías Jove argued that there is no normal bilateral relationship between the US and Venezuela, but rather a relationship with a “terrorist organization that has usurped power.”
In this regard, he included Venezuela—under the control of the Maduro regime and the Cartel of the Suns—within a group of criminal organizations, along with Cuba, Bolivia, and sectors of Colombia, linked to drug trafficking and terrorism operating under the guise of state sovereignty.
Jove added that the Venezuelan regime, in conjunction with Cuba and Russia, uses the Palestinian cause as a narrative and propaganda tool to advance its own geopolitical agenda.
For his part, Bernardo Henao Jaramillo describes Venezuela as a “fortress” where outlaw groups consolidate drug trafficking and arms expansion operations that concern the entire region.
He emphasized that Colombia’s future depends on what happens in Venezuela, especially in the border area, where the expansion of illicit crops and the use of drones by the regime pose serious harms.
Henao Jaramillo labeled the chavista leaders as responsables for stealing elections and positioning themselves as a drug cartel while stating the success of the US strategy against the regime is crucial for Venezuela to regain its democratic system.
2025: A New Global Paradigm
Trump’s second administration marked a fundamental conceptual shift by redefining threats for both the United States and the region. As previously stated, organized transnational crime was elevated to an essential strategic threat to US security, coordinated with adversarial states.
Trump’s return marks a break from the globalist model of the Agenda 2030 and open border policies.
In this regard, Matías Jove agrees that it is the news of the year, highlighting that in just eleven months, Trump’s team flipped the global board. He cited the exit from the Paris Agreement and an aggressive tariff policy that prioritizes national interest over globalization.
For Bernardo Henao Jaramillo, Trump’s victory served as a “breath of fresh air” for the West against globalism. He believes that his leadership restored hope and that more decisive actions are expected for 2026.
Hugo Achá noted that the most important change is the abandonment of “political correctness” in the US, explaining that tariffs are now used as a tool for strategic projection, which, together with the designation of transnational crime as an essential threat to national security, is fundamental for the new approach to the global and regional situation.
The War in Ukraine and European Defense
We observe that the topic of Ukraine constitutes a conflict of attrition and stagnation in 2025, with highly significant economic impacts in Europe and the use of frozen Russian funds for Ukrainian defense.
The Trump administration pressured NATO countries—except for Spain under Pedro Sánchez—to increase their defense investments, resulting in a more financially stable and equipped alliance.
Matías Jove believes that the war in Ukraine has forced Europe to invest in its own defense for the first time since World War II, which he considers an indirect achievement of Trump’s pressure on his allies.
Meanwhile, Bernardo Henao Jaramillo labeled the Russian invasion as unjust and purely territorial. He expressed concern over the arms race, though he acknowledges its current necessity to restore the Western axis.
In contrast, Hugo Achá estimates that Vladimir Putin seeks to restore Imperial Russia and that, militarily, Russia lacks the capacity to sustain new territorial acquisitions. He refuted the claim that Trump is a “puppet of Putin,” recalling that Trump was the one who originally supplied Javelin missiles to Ukraine.
Conflict in the Middle East and Antisemitism
The conflict in the Middle East was also analyzed, highlighting its expansion—between Israel and Hamas—into Lebanon and the Red Sea.
Matías Jove warned that if Israel falls, the next target is the West, and criticized the use of the Palestinian cause by actors like Russia, Cuba, and Venezuela to advance their own agendas.
Bernardo Henao Jaramillo lamented the stance of Colombia’s Gustavo Petro government, asserting that the rupture of relations with Israel harms Colombia and appears to align with those seeking to “wipe that nation off the map.”
The resurgence of the “ugly head of antisemitism” in 2025 was denounced by Hugo Achá, who referenced extremist speeches in Spain and the radicalization of youth at Western universities under “Palestinocentric” myths.
The Threat from China and Transnational Crime
The issue of China could not be overlooked in this discussion, highlighting that China intensifies its strategic pulse against the US in technological and military realms.
In 2025, China “showed its cards,” stated Matías Jove, who noted that the Asian nation presents itself as a guarantor of multilateralism. He criticized the influence of Spanish figures like Rodríguez Zapatero in facilitating Chinese penetration into Ibero-America.
For Bernardo Henao Jaramillo, the advance of Chinese communism is alarming and hinders a democratic outcome in Venezuela.
The War of Misinformation
Finally, it was established that 2025 was not a year of transition but the beginning of an era where power replaces rules, and war is no longer formally declared.
In this context, Matías Jove reflected on the crisis of trust in traditional media and the importance of data control in the “cognitive war.”
Bernardo Henao Jaramillo warned about the use of Artificial Intelligence for mental manipulation, while Hugo Achá called for a “revolution of the common man,” where informed citizens without filters can combat narratives imposed by powerful interests.
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