Overview

• The reward has risen from $15 million in 2020 to $25 million in January and now $50 million in the latest announcement.
• Attorney General Pam Bondi called Maduro “one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world” and accused him of working with Cartel de los Soles, Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa Cartel and FARC.
• US authorities have seized about 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro’s network and over $700 million in assets, including private jets and government aircraft.
• Venezuela’s government denounced the bounty as political propaganda even as Maduro’s contested 2024 reelection remains unrecognized by the US and its allies.
• Washington has paired maximum-pressure tactics with limited concessions, notably a prisoner swap for US hostages and the reinstatement of Chevron’s Venezuela oil license.