The Trump administration is now offering a $50 million reward to anyone who can provide information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, who is widely considered a dictator.
The announcement came directly from Attorney General Pam Bondi, who accused Maduro of conspiring with multiple gangs to bring guns and illegal drugs into the United States.
‘Maduro uses foreign terrorist organizations like [Tren de Aragua], Sinaloa and Cartel of the Suns to bring deadly drugs and violence into our country,’ she said.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has so far seized 30 tons of cocaine that were subsequently linked to Maduro and his associates, Bondi said.
Nearly seven tons of that total was linked to Maduro himself, she 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,’ Bondi said.
Maduro, 62, has been in the crosshairs of the American justice system since March 2020, when he was indicted in the Southern District of New York on a litany of charges related to drug trafficking.
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 received from 80 percent of ballot boxes nationwide.
Machado claimed González, a former diplomat, won with twice as many votes.
In November 2024, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken officially recognized González as the president-elect of Venezuela.
Both Guaido and González fled the country after both men had arrest warrants issued for them by Maduro’s government.
