The Trump administration has doubled the U.S. reward for the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to $50 million, accusing him of being a leading global narcotics trafficker and conspiring with cartels to smuggle fentanyl-laced cocaine into the United States.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and will be held accountable for his despicable crimes,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday in a video announcement.
Maduro was indicted in Manhattan federal court in 2020, during Trump’s first term, on charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. The U.S. initially offered $15 million for his capture, later raised to $25 million under President Biden — matching the bounty once offered for Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Despite international condemnation of his 2024 reelection as fraudulent, Maduro has remained in power, defying the U.S., the European Union, and several Latin American governments that recognized his opponent as Venezuela’s legitimate leader.
Last month, the Trump administration secured the release of 10 Americans jailed in Caracas in exchange for Venezuela’s acceptance of hundreds of deported migrants to El Salvador. Soon after, the White House eased sanctions, allowing U.S. oil giant Chevron to resume operations in the country.
Bondi said U.S. authorities have seized more than $700 million in assets linked to Maduro, including two private jets, and traced 7 million tons of confiscated cocaine directly to him.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil dismissed the increased bounty as “pathetic,” accusing Bondi of orchestrating a “crude political propaganda operation” and calling it a “desperate distraction” from her own controversies.
