The United States raised to $25 million the amount offered for tips that result in Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro being arrested as he took the oath opening another six-year presidency. The reward relates to US narcotics and corruption charges dating from 2020, allegations Maduro rejects.
Washington also announced rewards involving two other senior Venezuelan officials. Information leading to the arrest or conviction of Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello was covered by a separate offer, while a new reward of up to $15 million was set for Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino. The measures added personal legal and financial pressure to the broader sanctions imposed on Maduro's government.
The United Kingdom sanctioned 15 Venezuelan officials, including judges and members of the security and military establishments. British authorities said those named were responsible for weakening democracy and the rule of law or for human-rights abuses. The European Union extended its restrictive measures because it saw no sufficient progress toward restoring democratic government and the rule of law, and it added 15 officials to its sanctions list. Canada announced fresh sanctions as well.
Maduro and his government have repeatedly rejected accusations from Western governments and Venezuelan opposition leaders. The United States charged Maduro and other officials with narco-terrorism in 2020, alleging that they used cocaine trafficking as a weapon against the US population. Maduro denies those claims. He has also blamed Venezuela's economic collapse on sanctions that he describes as illegitimate and imperial, while his critics point to corruption and economic mismanagement.
The timing of the new reward emphasized the international dispute surrounding Maduro's inauguration. He took the oath after electoral authorities declared him the winner of the July 28, 2024 presidential election. The opposition and many governments rejected that result, including the United States, Brazil and Colombia. Washington instead recognized exiled opposition candidate Edmundo González as president-elect.
González left Venezuela for Spain in September and later toured countries in the Americas seeking international backing. Maduro's government issued an arrest warrant for him and offered $100,000 for information leading to his detention. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, meanwhile, called for the release of people arbitrarily detained since the election.
The inauguration was tightly controlled. Most accredited Venezuelan media organizations were excluded from the ceremony, and foreign journalists were prevented from entering the country. The presidents of Cuba and Nicaragua were the only foreign heads of state in attendance. Maduro, whose remaining international partners include China, Iran and Russia, used the ceremony to promise a term of peace, prosperity and equality.
The $25 million offer did not alter who controlled Venezuela's state institutions on the event date, nor did it amount to an arrest. It did, however, signal that Washington was intensifying pressure rather than accepting Maduro's new term as legitimate. Combined with coordinated sanctions from Britain, the European Union and Canada, the announcement sharpened the divide between Maduro's government and countries challenging the election outcome.
The United States had temporarily eased oil sanctions in an effort to encourage a free and fair election, then restored them in 2024. The new reward showed that this period of conditional engagement had given way to renewed coercive measures. Maduro's ability to take the oath despite those measures also exposed their immediate limitation: foreign pressure increased his isolation, but it did not prevent the Venezuelan authorities from inaugurating him for another term.
