US Government Increases Reward For Arrest of Venezuela Leader Nicolás Maduro to $50 million—-The U.S. government announced on Thursday an unprecedented $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan ruler Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of heading one of the world’s most dangerous narco-trafficking networks.
The reward, which doubles the previous offer, was revealed in a video posted on social media by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who said the Maduro regime has become a direct threat to U.S. national security.
Bondi accused Maduro of using foreign terrorist and criminal organizations —including the Tren de Aragua gang, the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel, and the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles, Cartel of the Suns — to flood the U.S. with cocaine. “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,” Bondi said in the video. “Maduro uses foreign terrorist organizations like TDA, Sinaloa and Cartel of the Suns to bring deadly drugs and violence into our country.“ In the video, Bondi also announced the seizure of more than $700 million in Maduro-linked assets, including two private jets, nine vehicles and various properties.
Despite these enforcement actions, Bondi warned, “Maduro’s reign of terror continues.” Although Maduro was not among the early Venezuelan officials tied to narco-trafficking during the previous Hugo Chávez presidency, a federal indictment filed in New York shows his rise through the ranks of the Cartel of the Suns, a drug organization embedded within the Venezuelan military.
According to court documents, Maduro gained increasing influence in the cartel after Chávez’s death in 2013, eventually becoming one of its top leaders. The indictment notes that Maduro “helped manage and, ultimately, lead the Cártel de Los Soles,” as the drug operation became intertwined with the Venezuelan state.
While other top leaders in the Venezuelan regime such as Diosdado Cabello and Tareck El Aissami were often seen as the cartel’s figureheads, the new evidence suggests Maduro’s role was far more significant than previously believed.
The indictment claims the purpose of Venezuela’s drug trafficking apparatus goes beyond self-enrichment.
The cartel, it says, aimed “to flood the United States with cocaine and inflict the drug’s harmful and addictive effects on users in this country.” U.S. authorities had estimated earlier this decade that more than 250 tons of cocaine transit through Venezuela annually, but recent intelligence reports suggest that number may have doubled in recent years to compensate for the shortfall in revenue caused by U.S. sanctions on the country’s oil industry.
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