UNITED STATES mercenary and former special forces member Jordan Goudreau told journalist Max Blumenthal for The Grayzone that the US was behind the creation of the Cartel of the Suns drug group.

Mr Goudreau, known for leading the failed 2020 armed incursion against the Venezuelan government, revealed that the Cartel of the Suns was created by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) long before President Hugo Chavez came to power.

He said: “Back in the 1990s, the Cartel of the Suns was created by the CIA. This is no secret, I mean, this is the truth,” Mr Goudreau stated. 

He said that this same structure is now being used to accuse President Nicolas Maduro, even though “it may not actually exist anymore.”

When asked by Mr Blumenthal to confirm whether the CIA was the creator of the organisation, the mercenary responded emphatically: “Oh, absolutely. That’s nothing new.”

Mr Goudreau insisted that the “CIA’s facilitation of drug trafficking through this group is well documented.”

Mr Goudreau told The Grayzone that the US government, regardless of the administration, is seeking to protect the resources it obtains through drug trafficking. 

He argued that the current pressure on Venezuela is part of an update to the Monroe Doctrine to prevent the strategic influence of Russia or China in the region, a policy he ironically called “the Maduro doctrine.”

Mr Goudreau has recently exposed drug-trafficking links between figures such as Venezuelan far-right leaders Juan Guaido and Leopoldo Lopez and the US government.

He also exposed the involvement of former Colombian President Ivan Duque and other public figures in organising “Operation Gideon,” the codename given to the attempt to topple the Venezuelan government in 2020.

The revelations come as the US continues to ramp up its attacks on what it describes as drug traffickers.

Last Thursday, the US took survivors into custody after the military struck a vessel in the Caribbean.

This was the first time that there are known to be survivors from the US attacks President Donald Trump has authorised since last month in the waters off Venezuela.

The strike, at least the sixth since early September, brought the death toll from the Trump administration against vessels in the region to at least 28.

To many observers in the region the heightened activity against alleged drug trafficking from Venezuela is a prelude to a US attack on the central American country.

Legal experts last week questioned the legality of the US attacks and his authorisation last week of covert action inside Venezuela by the CIA.