Donald Trump has offered up a $50 million (£37 million) reward to anyone who can provide information which will aid in the arrest of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro. In the announcement, Attorney General Pam Bondi accused Mr Maduro of conspiring with multiple gangs to bring guns and illegal drugs into the US.
“Maduro uses foreign terrorist organisations like [Tren de Aragua], Sinaloa and Cartel of the Suns to bring deadly drugs and violence into our country,” she said. So far, she added, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has seized 30 tons of cocaine (over 27,200 kg) that were later linked to the so-called Venezuelan dictator and his associates. Of this total, nearly seven tons were linked to Mr Maduro himself, Ms Bondi added, explaining that this represents a primary source of income for gangs operating in Venezuela and Mexico. “Cocaine is often laced with fentanyl, resulting in the loss and destruction of countless American lives,” she said.
The US already had a $25m (£18.6m) bounty on the head of Mr Maduro, but this latest announcement has seen the total double, the Mail reports. During Mr Trump’s first term, the US government charged Maduro and other high-ranking Venezuelan officials with a range of offences, including narco-terrorism, corruption and drug trafficking.
Mr Maduro, 62, a former union leader, has been the Venezuelan president since 2013 after succeeding Hugo Chavez. He is widely considered a dictator, leading an authoritarian government characterised by electoral fraud, serious human rights abuses, rampant corruption and severe economic hardship. He has also been repeatedly accused of repressing opposition groups and silencing dissent in Venezuela, including with the use of violence.
“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,” Ms Bondi added. “He is one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world, and a threat to our national security.”
She vowed that the dictator “will be held accountable for his despicable crimes”.
There was so much doubt over the integrity 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.
Last year, Mr Maduro ran for a third term as president. The Maduro-aligned election authority declared him the winner in July, but it did not release the voting tallies from each of the nation’s 30,000 polling booths. The opposition party, which ran Edmundo González as its candidate, also claimed victory. Then, in November, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken officially recognised González – who has since fled Venezuela after Mr Maduro issued an arrest warrant – as the president-elect.
The Trump administration has held the same position, with current Secretary of State Marco Rubio accusing Mr Maduro of election tampering last month.
“One year since dictator Nicolás Maduro defied the will of the Venezuelan people by baselessly declaring himself the winner, the United States remains firm in its unwavering support to Venezuela’s restoration of democratic order and justice,” Mr Rubio said. “Maduro is not the President of Venezuela and his regime is not the legitimate government.”
The UK and EU also announced sanctions against Mr Maduro’s government following his return to office.