US Designates Clan del Golfo as Terrorist Organization

The paramilitary group is one of the largest cocaine distributors and human smuggling operators in the world, according to State Department officials.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicle patrols the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Nogales, Ariz., on Sept. 16, 2025. Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images

The United States designated Colombia’s paramilitary group Clan del Golfo, a multibillion-dollar transnational criminal cartel, as a foreign terrorist organization and specially designated global terrorist on Tuesday.

The violent and powerful criminal organization has thousands of members.

“Clan del Golfo is responsible for terrorist attacks against public officials, law enforcement, and military personnel, and civilians in Colombia,” the State Department stated.

“The United States will continue to use all available tools to protect our nation and stop the campaigns of violence and terror committed by international cartels and transnational criminal organizations.”

The cartel’s primary source of income is cocaine trafficking, which funds the gang’s violent activities, according to the U.S. State Department.

The cartel imposes a “tax” on any drug traffickers operating in its territory, charging fees for every kilogram of cocaine made, stored, or transported through areas controlled by the paramilitary group, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

To maintain control over its territory, cartel leaders often employ hitmen to carry out assaults, kidnappings, torture, and assassinations against competitors or those deemed traitors, the DEA reported.

Clan del Golfo is also a key contributor to human smuggling through the Darién Gap, a remote area along the border of Colombia and Panama, according to the U.S. State Department.

The U.S. plans to deny funding and resources to the terrorist organization, U.S. officials stated.

The Trump administration has also added the Sinaloa Cartel, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), MS-13, Tren de Aragua, and Antifa Ost this year to the foreign terrorist organizations list.

Clan del Golfo’s activities and leaders have been sanctioned by the United States in the past few years for alleged drug and human smuggling activities.

In April, Clan del Golfo’s lieutenant, Fabian Edilson Torres Caranton, 53, a Colombian national, pleaded guilty in the United States to conspiring to distribute large amounts of cocaine designated for the United States.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Torres Caranton and another person seeking to buy cocaine on behalf of Mexican buyers attended a meeting in 2018 at a ranch in Colombia.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to journalists at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport after the G7 foreign ministers meeting, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on Nov. 12, 2025. Mandel Ngan/Pool via Reuters

During the meeting, a Clan del Golfo member authorized the production of 500 kilograms of cocaine to be delivered to Mexico for final delivery to the United States, according to court documents.

In 2023, Dario Antonio Úsuga David, a former leader of Clan del Golfo, pleaded guilty in New York to engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise and other related drug trafficking charges.

In 2024, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned five leaders of Clan del Golfo.

The United States also offered awards totaling $8 million for information leading to the arrests and convictions or financial disruptions in any country of key Clan del Golfo leaders involved in human smuggling in the Darién jungle.