Given the political and social crisis that Venezuela is experiencing following the presidential elections of July 28, U.S. Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio on Thursday introduced a bill seeking to increase the reward Washington is offering for the capture of President Nicolás Maduro.
According to the criteria of
The project, called ‘Stop Maduro’, would increase the reward amount from $15 million to a maximum of $100 million. for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the Chavista leader.
The 15 million reward against Maduro was announced in 2020, when then-Attorney General William Barr accused the Venezuelan president of the crimes of conspiracy for narcoterrorism, conspiracy for the importation of cocaine and possession of weapons and other destructive devices.
On that occasion, accusations were also made against other Chavista leaders such as Diosdado Cabello, current Minister of the Interior, and Vladimir Padrino, Minister of Defense.
According to Senator Scott’s announcement, The reward would be paid by the federal government using assets seized from officials of the Maduro regime. and not with taxpayer funds.
It is clear that Maduro will not resign on his own, so I urge my colleagues to support this bill to free Venezuela and the world from oppression.
U.S. Attorney General’s data cited by Scott indicates that U.S. seizures of regime assets “total approximately $450 million.”
“The time has come for Venezuela to free itself from the illegitimate regime of dictator Nicolás Maduro (…) The Venezuelan people voted for a new day of freedom and democracy on July 28 when they elected Edmundo González in an effort led by opposition leader María Corina Machado,” said Senator Scott after the presentation of the project.
And he added: “It is clear that Maduro will not resign on his own, so I urge my colleagues to support this bill to free Venezuela and the world from oppression. Maduro and pave the way for President-elect Gonzalez to return democracy, freedom and opportunity to Venezuela.”
The bill will also be introduced in the House of Representatives, where it will be led by Congressmen Mario Díaz-Balart and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. It will also be co-sponsored by Representatives Carlos A. Giménez, Jenniffer González Colón, María Elvira Salazar, Mike Waltz, Chris Smith and Darren Soto.
“The United States must do more to stop narco-dictator Nicolás Maduro. I have asked Interpol to issue a Red Notice to facilitate this and this legislation builds on that request by increasing the reward for Maduro’s arrest to $100 million. Maduro is one of the most corrupt conspirators of the Venezuelan regime and it is time for him to be held accountable for his crimes,” said Senator Marco Rubio.
Last July, Maduro was declared the winner of the election with 52 percent of the votes, without the National Electoral Council (CNE) disclosing the details of the vote count as required by law.
The opposition denounced fraud and said it had evidence of the victory of its candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia. The evidence was presented on a website that is currently the subject of an investigation by the Venezuelan Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Following Maduro’s proclamation, protests broke out across the country, leaving 27 dead, 192 injured and 2,400 arrested.
The results of the July 28 poll have also been questioned by several Latin American countries.
The United States, which imposed a sanctions package in 2019 in response to Maduro’s controversial first re-election a year earlier, also does not recognize the new proclamation of the Venezuelan president as re-elected president.
#senators #introduce #bill #increase #reward #Nicolás #Maduro #million