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The Trump administration is currently offering a $50 million reward for information that leads to the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, who is often labeled as a dictator.
This announcement was made by Attorney General Pam Bondi, accusing Maduro of collaborating with various gangs to smuggle firearms and illegal drugs into the United States.
‘Maduro collaborates with foreign terrorist groups such as [Tren de Aragua], Sinaloa, and the Cartel of the Suns to introduce lethal drugs and violence into our nation,’ Bondi stated.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has thus far confiscated 30 tons of cocaine connected to Maduro and his network, according to Bondi.
She noted that nearly seven tons of this cocaine were directly linked to Maduro, highlighting that this constitutes a major revenue stream for gangs in Venezuela and Mexico.
‘Cocaine is often laced with fentanyl, resulting in the loss and destruction of countless American lives,’ Bondi said.
Since March 2020, Maduro, 62, has been targeted by the U.S. justice system, indicted in the Southern District of New York on multiple drug trafficking-related charges.
They included narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
The Trump administration announced a $50 million reward for information leading to the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro (center), who is widely considered a dictator
Pictured: Alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a gang Maduro is accused of working with, are moved through the notoriously brutal prison in El Salvador known as CECOT
Immediately after the indictment, the first Trump administration offered a $15 million reward for Maduro’s capture.
President Joe Biden’s State Department increased that to $25 million and with Bondi’s announcement on Thursday, the federal government has doubled that.
‘The DOJ has seized over $700 million of Maduro linked assets, including two private jets, nine vehicles and more. Yet Maduro’s reign of terror continues,’ Bondi said.
‘He is one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world, and a threat to our national security,’ she added.
She vowed that Maduro won’t escape justice under watch and that he ‘will be held accountable for his despicable crimes’.
Maduro has been the president of Venezuela since April 2013 and in that time, he has been accused of consolidating power in executive agencies while simultaneously wrestling it away from the elected National Assembly.
There was so much doubt over the veracity of the 2018 presidential elections, which he won, that the president of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, was declared the true leader of Venezuela by anti-Maduro legislators.
Guaidó was even invited as a special guest to Trump’s State of the Union address in February 2020.
President Donald Trump has long been a critic of Venezuela’s socialist and totalitarian government
Trump is pictured on February 5, 2020 at the White House with Juan Guaidó, who for years was considered by many around the world as the true president of Venezuela
Democrats and Republicans alike cheered for Guaidó after Trump called him ‘the true and legitimate president of Venezuela.’
In 2024, Maduro ran for a third term as president. He was declared the winner in July by the Maduro-aligned election authority, which did not release the voting tallies from each of the 30,000 polling booths in the nation.
The opposition party, who ran Edmundo González as their candidate, also claimed victory.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said the margin of González’s win was ‘overwhelming’ based tallies she had received from 40 percent of ballot boxes nationwide.
