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DONALD Trump has announced a historic $50million bounty on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who faces federal drug trafficking charges.
The Justice Department accused Maduro of leading a cocaine trafficking gang called “The Cartel of the Suns” that shipped hundreds of tons of narcotics into the US.
Washington, which does not recognize Maduro’s past two election victories, accuses the South American country’s leader of leading a cocaine trafficking gang.
“Today, the Department of Justice and State Department are announcing a historic $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Nicolas Maduro,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a video on social media.
“He is one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security.”
Maduro, who has been dubebd “Vladimir Putin’s man in South America”, previous had a $25 million bountry set by the US in January.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said Bondi’s “pathetic” bounty was “the most ridiculous smokescreen we have ever seen.”
“The dignity of our homeland is not for sale. We reject this crude political propaganda operation,” Gil said on Telegram.
During Trump’s first term in the office, Maduro and other high-ranking Venezuelan officials were indicted in federal court in New York on several charges including participating in a “narco-terrorism” conspiracy.
Investigators say Maduro’s cartel worked hand-in-hand with the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which the US has labeled a terrorist organization.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) “has seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates, with nearly seven tons linked to Maduro himself,” Bondi said.
The US government has also seized more than $700 million in Maduro-linked assets, including two Venezuelan government aircraft, since September last year, according to Bondi.
“Yet Maduro’s reign of terror continues,” she said. “Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes.”
The 62-year-old Maduro, a former bus driver and trade unionist, faces up to life in prison if he can be tried and is convicted.
At the time of the indictment, Maduro slammed what he called “spurious, false” accusations.
In June, Venezuela’s former intelligence chief Hugo Armando Carvajal pleaded guilty to US drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges.
