The Los Angeles Post

U.S. Charges Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro

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Nicolás Maduro Moros is the previous president of Venezuela.  Maduro succeeded to the Venezuelan presidency after Hugo Chavez died in 2013 and declared victory in a presidential election in 2018.  In 2019, the National Assembly of Venezuela invoked the Venezuelan constitution and declared that Maduro had usurped power and was not the president of Venezuela.  Since 2019, more than 50 countries, including the United States, have refused to recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s head of state.

Maduro helped manage, and ultimately, lead the Cartel of the Suns, a Venezuelan drug-trafficking organization comprised of high-ranking Venezuelan officials, as he gained power in Venezuela in a corrupt and violent narco-terrorism conspiracy with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.  Maduro negotiated multi-ton shipments of FARC-produced cocaine; directed the Cartel of the Suns to provide military-grade weapons to the FARC; coordinated foreign affairs with Honduras and other countries to facilitate large-scale drug trafficking; and solicited assistance from FARC leadership in training an unsanctioned militia group that functioned, in essence, as an armed forces unit for the Cartel of the Suns.

Maduro was charged in a March 2020 Southern District of New York federal indictment for narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices in violation of Title 21 U.S.C. §§ 960a and 963, and 18 U.S.C. § 924.

The U.S. Department of State is offering a REWARD OF UP TO $15 MILLION for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Nicolás Maduro Moros.

If you have information and are located outside of the United States, please contact the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. If in the United States, please contact the local Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office in your city.

Government officials and employees are not eligible for rewards.

TIPS:  CONTACT THE DEA AT +1-202-681-8187 (PHONE/WHATSAPP/SIGNAL) OR BY EMAIL AT [email protected]