WASHINGTON – Senator Rick Scott and Senator Marco Rubio introduce legislation to increase the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Nicolás Maduro.
The Securing Timely Opportunities for Payment and Maximizing Awards for Detaining Unlawful Regime Officials (STOP MADURO) Act would increase the maximum reward amount from $15 million to a maximum of $100 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Maduro.
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This comes after the July 28 vote in which Maduro was declared the winner despite strong evidence that opposition candidate Edmundo González won by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, which drew international condemnation that the vote lacked transparency.
“The Venezuelan people overwhelmingly voted for a new day of freedom and democracy on July 28 when they elected Edmundo González in an effort led by opposition leader María Corina Machado. It’s clear Maduro will not step down on his own, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill to rid Venezuela and the world of Maduro’s oppression and make way for President-elect González to bring democracy, freedom and opportunity back to Venezuela,” Senator Rick Scott said.
The reward would be paid out by the federal government using seized assets already being withheld from Maduro, officials of the Maduro regime and their co-conspirators, not taxpayer funds.
“The U.S. must do more to arrest narco-dictator Nicolás Maduro. I’ve called for Interpol to issue a red alert notice to facilitate this, and this legislation builds on that call by increasing the reward for his arrest to $100 million. Maduro is one of the Venezuelan regime’s most corrupt schemers and it’s past time he is held accountable for his crimes,” Senator Marco Rubio said.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Florida and its federal law enforcement partners who have brought dozens of criminal charges against high-level regime officials, asset seizures total approximately $450 million dollars.