evidence: Much of Venezuela is ungoverned or ill-governed—allowing drug trafficking, illegal gold mining, and other criminal activities to spread to neighboring countries. Corrupt Venezuelans and other criminals use Venezuela's permissive environment to generate illicit income and then move the assets to hide where they came from. [...] Much of Venezuela is ungoverned, undergoverned, or ill governed, according to the Department of State. In 2019, the U.S. ceased to recognize Nicolás Maduro as Venezuela's president and suspended embassy operations in Venezuela, according to State. U.S. agencies have indicated that the illegitimate Maduro regime allows and tolerates the use of its territory by transnational criminal organizations (TCO), including U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations, for drug trafficking and other criminal enterprises. According to the 2022 Caribbean Border Counternarcotics Strategy, the ongoing political instability in Venezuela provides a permissive smuggling environment for TCOs, and Venezuela’s corrupt political and security infrastructure enables officials to participate in, and profit from, these illicit activities.