U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Thursday the United States doubled its reward for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Venezuela’s socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro to $50 million.
“Today, the Department of Justice and State Department are announcing a historic $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Nicolás Maduro. Maduro uses foreign terrorist organizations like TDA, Sinaloa, and Cartel of the Sons to bring deadly drugs and violence into our country,” AG Bondi said.
“To date, the DEA has seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates with nearly 7 tons linked to Maduro himself, which represents a primary source of income for the deadly cartels based in Venezuela and Mexico. Cocaine is often laced with fentanyl, resulting in the loss and destruction of countless American lives,” she continued.
Nicolás Maduro has ruled as dictator of Venezuela since 2013 after he succeeded his predecessor, late socialist dictator Hugo Chávez, who died from an undisclosed type of cancer in March 2013. Chávez announced Maduro as his chosen successor on his last public appearance on December 8, 2012, which the ruling socialists now celebrate as “Day of Love and Loyalty to Commander Chávez.”
Since 2020, Maduro and other high-ranking members of the Venezuelan socialist regime have been actively wanted by U.S. authorities on multiple narco-terrorism charges. United States have accused Maduro of being a leading figure of the Cartel of the Suns, an intercontinental cocaine trafficking operation run by high-ranking members of the Venezuelan military and some leading figures of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
The Venezuelan drug cartel is accused by U.S. authorities of attempting to “flood” the United States with cocaine with the intention of harming its people. The United States offered an initial $15 million bounty on Maduro in 2020, which was raised to $25 million in January and then doubled to $50 million on Thursday.
“He is one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world, and a threat to our national security. Therefore, we’ve doubled his reward to $50 million,” AG Bondi said. “Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes.”
Indictment documents from a U.S. federal court unsealed in July 2024 revealed that Maduro, while having not been a leading figure of the cartel at the time of its creation, became more directly involved in its operations, and has come to lead the entire organization after he succeeded Hugo Chávez as dictator of Venezuela.
In March, a report published by the non-government organization Transparencia Venezuela indicated that Venezuela has become a “key hub” for global drug trafficking under the Maduro regime, with drug trafficking generating more than $8.2 billion worth of revenue in Venezuela during 2024.
“Maduro is the head of the vicious Cartel de Los Soles, a narco-terror organization which has taken over Venezuela. Maduro MUST be brought to justice,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday.
Since 2013, Maduro has illegitimately clung to power through several sham elections, with the latest one having taken place on July 28, 2024. Maduro, and his socialist regime claim that the dictator was “reelected” for an additional six-year term but no Venezuelan authority ever provided any form of voter data or documentation that could demonstrate the claimed results.
After the sham election, Maduro launched a brutal persecution campaign against dissidents that left at least 25 deaths, hundreds injured, and more than 2,400 arbitrary detentions.
In July, Sec. Rubio said that Maduro is “not the president of Venezuela” and is instead the head of the Cartel of the Suns. On Thursday, Sec. Rubio reiterated that the United States does not recognize Maduro as President of Venezuela.
In addition to Nicolás Maduro, the United States has active bounties for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of other high-ranking regime members accused of leading the Cartel of the Suns, such as a $25 million bounty on Interior Minister and wanted drug lord Diosdado Cabello and a $15 million bounty on Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil, speaking on behalf of the Maduro regime, condemned Bondi’s announcement as “pathetic” and as “the most ridiculous smokescreen we have ever seen” in a statement published on his official Telegram account.
“Pamela Bondi’s pathetic “reward” is the most ridiculous smokescreen we have ever seen. While we dismantle the terrorist plots orchestrated from her country, this woman comes out with a media circus to please Venezuela’s defeated far right,” Gil’s message read.
“We’re not surprised, coming from her. The same person who promised a non-existent ‘secret list’ of Epstein’s and who wallows in scandals involving political favors,” Gil sneered.
“Her show is a joke, a desperate distraction from her own miseries. The dignity of our homeland is not for sale. We repudiate this crude political propaganda operation,” he continued.
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