Why the US offers Nicolás Maduro a reward superior to what he gave to capture Osama Bin Laden

- Author, Writing
- Author's title, BBC News World
August 8, 2025

Stick and carrot. This seems to be the strategy that the United States is following with the government of Nicolás Maduro.

Thus, after the unpublished agreement with the Chavista authorities who, a few weeks ago, allowed the release of 10 Americans detained in the South American country, in exchange for the return of 252 Venezuelan migrants who were deported to El Salvador and followed by the announcement of a new permit for the Chevron oil company to extract Venezuelan crude again, Washington has raised to US $ 50 million Maduro since 2020.

“It is one of the largest drug traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security,” justified the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, announcing this Thursday the “historical” amount that that person who provides information that leads to the “arrest” of the Venezuelan ruler.

The Venezuelan Chancellor, Yvan Gil, crossed out of “human curtain” the announcement and assured that this seeks to distract the attention of other issues, as in the case of the late sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein.

For his part, Interior Minister, Diosdado Cabello, said that US accusations about links between Venezuelan and drug traffickers are “a big lie.”

Maduro and the Minister of Defense, Padrino López — Photo foot, Washington accuses Maduro and some senior Venezuelan officers of wanting to “flood” the US with drugs.

A new record

The “historical” qualifier that Bondi used to describe the new reward fits reality, since this is the highest than you have registration.

Until Thursday, the amount of US $ 25 million offered by Maduro was equal to the one at the time offered by US authorities by Osama Bin Laden, the founder of the Qaeda terrorist group and brain of the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Washington also offered the same sum for information that allowed to find the deposed Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein, after the invasion of the country in 2003.

And the figure that is now offered by the Venezuelan president exceeds the US $ 30 million that Washington promised for the clues that allowed their soldiers to find the whereabouts of Uday and Qusay Hussein, children of the former strong man of Iraq.

The reward for the Hussein brothers, canceled in 2003, was ever granted under the justice rewards program, as read on the US Department of State Department.

The sum was paid, as declared by the then US Secretary of State, the late Colin Powell. But more than 20 years have passed since then.

Maduro's reward, however, is different and is part of the narcotics rewards program (NRP).

The NRP “grants the Secretary of State for the legal authority to offer rewards of up to 25 million dollars”, is also the website of the State Department.

To date, this program has helped to bring more than 75 foreigners serious offenders of the anti -narcotics laws of that country before US judges.

Likewise, the US has so far paid more than US $ 35 million in rewards to people who provided information that led to the arrest or conviction of said criminals, according to the public information available.

Osama Bin Laden Portrait — Photo foot, For the founder of Al Qaeda and brain of the attacks of September 11, 2001, the US offered US $ 25 million.

The leader a criminal group

The prosecutor Bondi accused him of being “one of the largest drug traffickers in the world” and said that so far this year the US anti -drug agency (DEA, has seized 30 tons of narcotics from Venezuela, of which seven would be “directly linked” to the ruler.

“Maduro uses terrorist organizations such as the TDA (Aragua Train), (the sign of) Sinaloa and the Los Soles cartel to bring lethal drugs and violence to our country,” added the official, who said that the ruler have been seized goods for US $ 700 million in recent months.

On July 25, the Treasury Department described the Los Solos poster as a “global terrorist organization.”

But what is the Suns poster? It is not a criminal organization in the opinion.

“It is a group of circles or networks within the Chavista regime that facilitate, protect or participate in drug trafficking,” Jeremy McDermott, co -director and co -founder of Insight Crime, told BBC in 2020, a research center on organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Some experts say that this structure is directed by senior Venezuelan officials, including military, which facilitate the passage through Venezuelan drug territory produced in Colombia.

The name of the group comes from the badges that Venezuelan generals carry in their uniforms.

The increase in the reward also occurs after, in June, an alleged member of this organization, the Venezuelan general Hugo Carvajal. will declare themselves guilty of drug trafficking and drug trafficking in the US.

Carvajal, aka “El Chicken”, was head of the General Directorate of Military Contraintintelling during the governments of the late President Hugo Chávez, between 2004 and 2011, and deputy and consul with Maduro.

Pam Bondi Le Habla to Donald Trump — Photo foot, The US attorney general announced the “historical” reward for Maduro.

“Pure invention”

Since 2020, Maduro and another 14 Venezuelan officials and former officials are in the sights of US justice for “trying to flood the country with cocaine to undermine the health and well -being of our nation,” said prosecutor Geoffrey S. Berman, at the time of presenting charges against the ruler and his collaborators.

The Venezuelan authorities, meanwhile, have insistently denied any link with drug trafficking.

“The Soles poster is an invention of them (USA),” said Interior Minister, Diosdado Cabello, who is also indicated by US authorities to form this organization.

“I don't know how many years they have invented that (from the Sol Cartel) and at that time he has had about 300 bosses,” he said.

“Every time someone bothers them, they put him as head of the poster of Los Soles,” he said, while adding that “what is true is that where the world's largest poster operates is the US,” in reference to the DEA.

Another evidence that the Venezuelan authorities use to deny any link with drug trafficking is the number of seizures. Last February, the Chief of the National Anti -Drug Superintendence (Sunad), Danny Ferrer, said that more than 40 tons of narcotics were intercepted in 2024.

However, this figure is 28.7% lower than that of 2023, when members of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) and agents of the different police bodies seized 56,187 kilos.