nicolas maduro why is he wanted
Nicolás Maduro is “wanted” mainly because U.S. authorities have indicted him on serious drug‑trafficking and “narco‑terrorism” charges, and have put up a multi‑million‑dollar reward for his capture.
Who is Nicolás Maduro?
- Nicolás Maduro is the longtime president of Venezuela, in power since 2013 after Hugo Chávez’s death.
- His government is widely described by critics and many Western governments as authoritarian, accused of rigged elections, repression of opponents, and severe human‑rights abuses.
Why is he “wanted” by the U.S.?
- In 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment accusing Maduro and several Venezuelan officials of running a narco‑terrorism partnership with Colombia’s FARC guerrillas for roughly two decades.
- The indictment says they helped ship tons of cocaine toward the United States, allegedly using drugs as a “weapon” to “flood” the U.S. market, which U.S. prosecutors frame as a national‑security threat.
Main criminal charges
According to U.S. filings and later updates, Maduro faces charges such as:
- Narco‑terrorism conspiracy
- Cocaine importation conspiracy
- Possession of machine guns and destructive devices
- Conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices in connection with the drug‑trafficking scheme
These are federal charges in New York, meaning that if he is in U.S. custody, he would be tried in U.S. court under U.S. law.
Bounties and “wanted” status
- When the 2020 indictment was announced, U.S. authorities also publicized reward offers for information leading to Maduro’s arrest and conviction, which effectively put him on a high‑profile “wanted” list, similar to major cartel leaders.
- Reports since then describe the reward as having been raised to as much as 50 million dollars , further underlining how aggressively Washington is pursuing him.
Human‑rights and political accusations
Separate from the criminal case, multiple international bodies have documented grave abuses under Maduro’s rule:
- UN fact‑finding missions and human‑rights groups describe patterns of arbitrary detention, torture, sexual violence, and extrajudicial killings by Venezuelan security forces, especially during protests.
- These findings have fed calls for accountability at venues like the International Criminal Court, where Venezuela has been under preliminary examination for possible crimes against humanity.
Maduro’s and supporters’ side of the story
- Maduro denies all criminal and cartel accusations, insisting they are fabricated to justify regime change and seize Venezuela’s vast oil and other natural resources.
- Supporters argue that U.S. sanctions and hostile actions are what devastated Venezuela’s economy, and they see the indictments as political tools in a broader geopolitical struggle rather than neutral law enforcement.
In short: he is “wanted” because U.S. prosecutors accuse him of running a state‑linked drug‑trafficking and narco‑terrorist enterprise, while human‑rights bodies say his security forces committed severe abuses; he, in turn, says it is all about U.S. power politics.
Bottom note: Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.