WASHINGTON, USA — The United States has doubled its reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to $50 million, accusing him of being “one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world.”
The announcement, made on Thursday, August 7, 2025, by Attorney General Pam Bondi, intensifies Washington’s long-standing campaign against Mr Maduro, who returned to office in January after an election widely condemned by the international community over allegations of vote-rigging.
Ms Bondi, in a video posted on X, alleged that the Venezuelan leader was directly linked to drug smuggling operations.
She claimed the US Drug Enforcement Administration had “seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates, with nearly seven tons linked to Maduro himself,” and accused him of working with groups such as Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang recently designated a terrorist organisation by the Trump administration, and Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil dismissed the move as “pathetic” and “political propaganda,” describing it as a “desperate distraction” from domestic controversies in the US, including criticism over the handling of the case of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“We’re not surprised, coming from whom it comes from,” he said.
Tensions between Washington and Caracas date back years.
During Donald Trump’s first term, US prosecutors charged Mr Maduro and other senior Venezuelan officials with narco-terrorism, corruption and drug trafficking, alleging that they had worked with Colombia’s Farc rebels to “use cocaine as a weapon to ‘flood’ the United States.”
Mr Maduro has consistently denied having any role in the drug trade.
The renewed bounty comes amid heightened scrutiny of Venezuela’s leadership.
In June, Hugo Carvajal, the country’s former military intelligence chief and once a close Maduro ally, was convicted in the US on multiple drug trafficking charges after being extradited from Spain.
Carvajal, known as El Pollo (“The Chicken”), changed his plea to guilty after initially denying the charges, fuelling speculation that he had agreed to cooperate with US authorities in exchange for a reduced sentence.
The UK and European Union imposed sanctions on Mr Maduro’s government earlier this year following his disputed re-election.
Despite international condemnation and widespread protests, he has retained his grip on power since succeeding Hugo Chávez in 2013, often facing accusations of suppressing opposition through violence and intimidation.
