A group of lawmakers from the two major parties in the United States (Republican and Democratic) last week introduced a bill to increase the reward for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro from US$15 million to US$100 million.
Republican Senator Rick Scott, who is leading the initiative, said that this amount would be paid with money from assets already seized from Maduro and other actors in the Venezuelan dictatorship, and not with resources from the American taxpayer.
In a statement, Scott said that, according to the Florida Federal Prosecutor’s Office, the seizures of assets belonging to the dictator and his accomplices already total approximately US$450 million.
“The time has come for Venezuela to be freed from the illegitimate regime of dictator Nicolás Maduro. For years, I have urged the Biden-Harris administration to put the full force of the federal government behind ending the Maduro regime, but [a gestão democrata] refused and continued its failed appeasement, which has only enriched and emboldened Maduro and his puppeteers in Cuba at the expense of the Venezuelan people,” Scott said in the statement.
“In 2020, the government [do republicano Donald] Trump did the right thing by offering a reward of up to $15 million, but it’s time to up the ante,” he added.
In March 2020, the US State Department offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Maduro.
The amount was offered as Maduro was indicted in a New York federal court on charges of narcoterrorism, conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the United States, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
On Monday (23), an Argentine court ordered the arrest of Maduro and other agents of the Venezuelan dictatorship for crimes against humanity. To this end, it requested that the dictator’s name be included on Interpol’s red list.
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