US indicts Venezuela’s Maduro on criminal drug charges, offers $15 million for arrest

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced Thursday indictments against Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and members of his inner circle for effectively converting Venezuela’s state into a “narco-terrorism” enterprise.

“Today’s announcement is focused on rooting out the extensive corruption within the Venezuelan government – a system constructed and controlled to enrich those at the highest levels of the government. The United States will not allow these corrupt Venezuelan officials to use the U.S. banking system to move their illicit proceeds from South America nor further their criminal schemes,” wrote U.S. Attorney General William Barr in a Department of Justice release.

The unsealed indictments from prosecutors in Miami and New York, encompass money-laundering, drug-trafficking, corruption and a slew of other criminal charges. In tandem, the U.S. Department of State announced a $15 million reward for information leading to the arrest or prosecution of Maduro.

“While Maduro and other cartel members held lofty titles in Venezuela’s political and military leadership, the conduct described in the Indictment wasn’t statecraft or service to the Venezuelan people.  As alleged, the defendants betrayed the Venezuelan people and corrupted Venezuelan institutions to line their pockets with drug money,” wrote U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman in a statement.

The indictment of a functioning head of state is almost unprecedented and is bound to raise tensions between Washington and Caracas as the spread of the coronavirus threatens to collapse a health system and oil-dependent economy driven deep into the ground by years of corruption and U.S. sanctions.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/26/us-to-indict-venezuelas-maduro-on-criminal-drug-charges.html