CARACAS, Venezuela, CMC – The US Division of State has elevated to US$25 million the reward for info resulting in the arrest or conviction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has been charged in a federal indictment for narco-terrorism and drug trafficking-related offenses.
Initially set at $15 million, the reward was raised to $25 million to underscore “the gravity of his crimes and the continued menace he poses to worldwide stability,” in response to a senior State Division official.
The US authorities is urging people with related info to return ahead. People in the USA have been inspired to contact their native Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) workplace, whereas these positioned outdoors the US are inspired to contact the closest US embassy or consulate.
Maduro, 62, has been below US indictment since 2020. Prosecutors allege he was a key determine within the Cartel of the Suns, a Venezuelan drug-trafficking group comprising high-ranking officers.
He has been accused of main a violent and corrupt narco-terrorism conspiracy in partnership with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a delegated international terrorist group. US prosecutors declare that Maduro negotiated multi-ton shipments of FARC-produced cocaine, directed the cartel to supply military-grade weapons to the FARC, and sought the group’s help in coaching an unsanctioned militia that acted as an armed wing of the cartel.
The elevated reward for his arrest was introduced on the identical day he was sworn into workplace for a 3rd time period.
Maduro, who has dominated Venezuela since 2013, was declared the winner of the July 2024 election by the nation’s electoral authority and high court docket regardless of what the US State Division mentioned was “credible proof of electoral fraud.”
Washington has not acknowledged him because the official president of Venezuela since 2019.
