MIAMI – The Trump administration has increased the reward for capturing Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro to $50 million. He is accused of major drug trafficking activities, collaborating with cartels to smuggle fentanyl-laced cocaine into the U.S.
Attorney General Pam Bondi stated in a video on Thursday, “Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes,” as she announced the heightened reward.
Maduro, alongside several associates, faced federal charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine in 2020, during Trump’s first term. Initially, a $15 million reward was set for his capture, which was later increased by the Biden administration to $25 million, comparable to the amount offered for Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks.
Despite the generous sum on his head, Maduro remains securely in power, having resisted the U.S., the European Union, and numerous Latin American countries that criticized his 2024 reelection as fraudulent, lending their support instead to his rival as Venezuela’s rightful leader.
Recently, the Trump administration reached a deal facilitating the release of 10 Americans held in Caracas. In return, Venezuela accepted back migrants deported to El Salvador during Trump’s immigration efforts. Following this, the White House changed its stance, permitting Chevron, a U.S. oil company, to resume operations in Venezuela despite previous sanctions.
Bondi noted that the Justice Department has seized over $700 million in assets associated with Maduro, including two private jets, and connected 7 million tons of seized cocaine directly to him.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil released a statement characterizing the reward as “pathetic” and accusing Bondi of orchestrating a “crude political propaganda operation.”
“We’re not surprised, coming from whom it comes from. The same one who promised a nonexistent ‘secret list’ of Epstein and who wallows in scandals for political favors,” Gil said, referring to the backlash Bondi faced after the Justice Department announced last month that a long-rumored “client list” of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein does not exist. “Her show is a joke, a desperate distraction from her own misery.”
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Associated Press writer Regina Garcia Cano contributed to this report from Mexico City.
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