The Trump administration on the 8th announced a reward of $50 million (about 211 million ringgit) for information and leads leading to the capture of Venezuelan President Maduro. This move doubles the previous Biden administration’s $25 million reward, setting a new record for the highest U.S. bounty on a foreign political figure.
Attorney General Bundy sharply criticized the president of this South American country as "one of the world's biggest drug lords," and claimed he poses a threat to U.S. national security.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister: Absurd
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil responded that Bundy’s bounty is “the most absurd smokescreen we have ever seen.”
Gil wrote on social media: “The dignity of our homeland is not for sale. We reject this crude act of political propaganda.”
Bundy said in a statement video posted on X that Maduro has used foreign terrorist organizations, including the Aragua Train gang, Sinaloa Cartel, and the Cartel of the Suns, to “bring deadly drugs and violence into our country.”
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has so far seized 30 tons of cocaine related to the Maduro group, with nearly 7 tons directly connected to him personally, making it a main source of income for the Venezuelan and Mexican drug trafficking organizations.
In addition, cocaine involved in Maduro’s smuggling operations is often mixed with fentanyl, resulting in “countless American lives being destroyed or lost.” Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid painkiller many times stronger than heroin, the overdose crisis of which has claimed tens of thousands of American lives each year.
Bundy revealed that the U.S. Department of Justice has already seized over $700 million in Maduro’s assets, including two private jets and nine vehicles, “but Maduro’s reign of terror continues. He is one of the world’s biggest drug lords and poses a threat to our national security. Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will never escape the justice he deserves and must be held accountable for his heinous crimes.”
As early as March 2020, Maduro was indicted by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on charges including narco-terrorism, conspiracy to smuggle cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, among others. During Trump’s first term, the bounty for Maduro was $15 million. The Biden administration increased this to $25 million in January of this year, and after Trump’s return to the White House, the bounty was doubled again this Thursday.