The U.S. is set to designate Cartel de los Soles — a group that the Trump administration has claimed is headed by Venezuela's president — as a foreign terrorist organization, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Sunday night, hours after the most advanced aircraft carrier in the nation crossed into the Caribbean Sea, the U.S. Navy said .

Rubio's announcement and the arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford mark a major moment in what the Trump administration says is a counterdrug operation but has been seen as an escalating pressure tactic against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Cartel de los Soles' designation as a foreign terrorist organization is set to go into effect on Nov. 24, Rubio said in a statement. He alleged the cartel is headed by Maduro and "other high-ranking individua

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