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The Trump administration has doubled its reward for the arrest of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro from $25 million (€21.4 million) to $50 million (€42.9 million), accusing him of being one of the world’s largest narco-traffickers and working with cartels to flood the US with fentanyl-laced cocaine.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday in a video announcing the reward.
Maduro was indicted in a federal court in Manhattan in 2020, during the first Trump presidency, along with several of his close allies. They were charged with charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States.
The former Trump administration at the time set a reward of $15 million (€12.9 million) for his arrest, which was later raised by the Biden administration to $25 million – the same amount Washington offered for the capture of Osama bin Laden following the 11 September attacks.
Despite the big bounty, Maduro remains in power after defying the US, the European Union and several Latin American countries who viewed his 2024 re-election as a sham, and recognised his opponent, Edmundo González, as Venezuela’s duly elected president.
In July, the Trump administration struck a deal with Venezuelan officials to secure the release of 10 Americans jailed in the capital Caracas, in exchange for Venezuela getting scores of migrants deported by the US to El Salvador.
Shortly after, the US reversed an earlier ban on US energy giant Chevron to resume drilling Venezuela after it was previously blocked by US sanctions.
Bondi says the US Justice Department has seized more than $700 million (€600 million) in assets linked to Maduro, including two private jets and close to 7 tonnes of cocaine, which was traced directly to the Venezuelan leftist leader.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil released a statement calling the reward “pathetic” and accused Bondi of orchestrating a “crude political propaganda operation.”
“We’re not surprised, coming from whom it comes from. The same one who promised a non-existent ‘secret list’ of Epstein and who wallows in scandals for political favours,” Gil said, referring to the backlash Bondi faced after she reversed a promise to release more evidence on the Epstein case.
“Her show is a joke, a desperate distraction from her own misery,” added the top Venezuelan diplomat.
Additional sources • AP
