Senate bill would raise bounty for leads on Venezuela’s Maduro to $100 million
A U.S. Senate bill to be introduced Thursday by Florida Republicans Rick Scott and Marco Rubio will increase a reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuela’s strongman Nicolás Maduro from the current $15 million to $100 million.
Maduro was indicted by the U.S. Justice Department in 2020 on drug-trafficking charges. The State Department has offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to Maduro’s arrest or conviction.
According to the Stop Maduro Act text, the U.S. government will not pay the reward using taxpayers’ money. Instead, it would use assets already withheld in the United States that were confiscated from Maduro and his allies. Held assets amount to nearly $450 million, Scott’s office said.
Earlier this month, federal authorities seized a plane regularly used by Maduro that had been detained in the Dominican Republic, valued at $13 million.
Florida U.S. Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart will introduce a companion bipartisan legislation in the House, cosponsored by Florida Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Republicans Carlos Gimenez, María Elvira Salazar and Mike Waltz, Puerto Rico’s representative Jenniffer Gonzalez Colon and New Jersey Republican Chris Smith.
The U.S. government and others around the world have accused Maduro of stealing the July 28 presidential election with the help of the country’s Electoral Council and Supreme Court, which are under his control. He was declared the winner despite overwhelming evidence that he lost to the opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez.
The opposition gathered and published online tally receipts from more than 80% of the voting machines, showing Gonzalez won at least 67% of the votes. Despite repeated calls by foreign governments, the Electoral Council has yet to publish its data.
“The Venezuelan people overwhelmingly 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,” Scott said. “It’s clear Maduro will not step down on his own and I urge my colleagues to support this bill to rid Venezuela and the world of Maduro’s oppression and make way for Presidentelect González to bring democracy, freedom and opportunity back to Venezuela.”
Gonzalez fled Venezuela for Spain last Sunday following arrest threats by Maduro’s government officials. In a video Wednesday, he said he was forced to sign a letter by the powerful brothers Delcy and Jorge Rodriguez, the vice president and president of the National Assembly, accepting Maduro’s alleged electoral victory for him to be allowed to leave the country or face imprisonment.
“Either I signed, or I faced the consequences,” he said, speaking of a meeting at the residence of the Spanish ambassador in Caracas. “There followed very tense hours of coercion, blackmail and pressure.”
The bill comes as governments worldwide grapple with how to deal with the electoral fraud in Venezuela.
Foreign policy experts have been advising the Biden administration to raise the bounty and revoke licenses to U.S. company Chevron and other foreign companies to extract oil from Venezuela to deny Maduro resources and increase the consequences of staying in power. But the administration has yet to act on those proposals.
Last week, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned 16 Venezuelan officials in the National Electoral Council and the Venezuelan Supreme Court who helped Maduro steal the election.
Thursday, the European Parliament officially recognized Gonzalez as president-elect, a move Biden has resisted doing.
Nora Gámez Torres: 305-376-2169, @ngameztorres