Nicolás Maduro, President of the Republic of Venezuela (Credit: Wikipedia Commons)

By  Gary Raynaldo    –   DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

The Trump administration increased its reward to $50 million for information leading to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s arrest for allegedly violating US narcotics laws. A previous bounty was set in January at $25 million. The Department of State and the Department of Justice made a joint announcement last week with DOJ Attorney General Pam Bondi accusing Maduro of being “one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security.” The reward is being offered under the Narcotics Rewards Program (NRP).   Prosecutors accuse Maduro and other government officials of flooding the US with cocaine and using drugs as a weapon to undermine the health of Americans.

“For over a decade, Maduro has been a leader of Cartel de los Soles, which is responsible for trafficking drugs into the United States.  On July 25, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated Cartel de Los Soles as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT),” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a press statement. “Since 2020, Maduro has strangled democracy and grasped at power in Venezuela.  Maduro claimed to have won Venezuela’s July 28, 2024, presidential election but failed to present any  evidence that he had prevailed.  The United States has refused to recognize Maduro as the winner of 2024 election and does not recognize him as the President of Venezuela.”  Several Latin American states also refused to recognize Maduro.

Trump initially offered a reward up to $15 million in his first administration in 2020 when Maduro was indicted in a federal court for the alleged US drug violations.  Maduro has steadfastly denied all drug trafficking accusations against him, accusing the US of attempting to violently remove him from office.