A $50 million bounty: How Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro became America’s most wanted

Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro

• Trump claims US forces captured Venezuela's President Maduro after major strike
• Maduro faces US charges of narco-terrorism and drug trafficking
• US raises Maduro bounty to $50M, highest ever under rewards program

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US President Donald Trump on Saturday said American forces had captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro following what he described as a “large-scale strike” against the South American country.

“The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, around two hours after explosions were reported in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.

The Trump administration has repeatedly accused Maduro of leading an international drug trafficking network. Maduro has denied the allegations, maintaining that Washington’s actions are aimed at overthrowing him because Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves.

Bounty on Nicolás Maduro

Last year, the United States sharply increased the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest or conviction to up to $50 million, the highest bounty ever announced under the US Narcotics Rewards Program.

Maduro assumed office in 2013 following the death of former president Hugo Chávez. Since 2019, however, his legitimacy has been disputed internationally after Venezuela’s National Assembly declared that he had usurped power. More than 50 countries, including the US, do not recognise him as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. Washington also rejected Maduro’s claim of victory in the country’s disputed July 2024 presidential election.

According to the US State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Maduro is accused of heading the Cartel of the Suns, a drug trafficking organisation allegedly involving senior Venezuelan officials. US authorities allege that Maduro coordinated with Colombia’s FARC rebel group to move multi-ton shipments of cocaine, supply weapons, facilitate trafficking routes through Central America and support armed militia groups.

In March 2020, Maduro was charged in a US federal court in New York with narco-terrorism, conspiracy to traffic cocaine and weapons-related offences. The US initially announced a reward of up to $15 million in 2020, later raising it to $25 million in January 2025. The reward was increased to $50 million after the US Treasury designated the Cartel of the Suns as a global terrorist organisation in July 2025.

The State Department said Maduro is the first individual in the program's history to carry a reward exceeding $25 million.