Florida lawmakers have proposed legislation that would set a reward of $100 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Information leading to the arrest of President Maduro is currently set at $15 million dollars.
According to the Department of State, US authorities seek to arrest Maduro for international crimes involving drug and arms trafficking.
In March 2020, Maduro was charged by a New York court with narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
The new bill, which is being led in the senate by Senators Rick Scott (R-FL) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), and in the house by Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), would increase the $15 million reward to $100 million.
The reward prize increase is designed to increase pressure on Maduro to relinquish power following his rejection of the last presidential elections’ results despite overwhelming evidence of his loss.
While presenting the bill, Senator Scott expressed his desire to rid Venezuela of Maduro and criticized President Joe Biden’s handling of the crisis.
“The time has come for Venezuela to be liberated from the illegitimate regime of dictator Nicolás Maduro,” said Scott. “For years, I have urged the Biden-Harris administration to put the full weight of the federal government to put an end to the Maduro regime, but it has refused and continued its failed appeasement that has only enriched and emboldened Maduro and his puppet masters in Cuba at the expense of the Venezuelan people.”
Venezuela’s elections follow failed negotiations between Venezuela’s government and President Biden’s administration over electoral assurances in exchange for sanctions relief.
Despite promises of allowing free and fair elections, the Venezuelan regime barred opposition leader Maria Corina Machado from participating in the same.
However, Machado invested her political capital into former Venezuelan Ambassador Edmundo Gonzalez, who subsequently won the presidential elections.
Despite Gonzalez’s victory, Maduro has fiercely persecuted his political opposition, arbitrarily arresting opposition party leaders and hundreds of protestors after the presidential elections.
