US to charge Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with drug trafficking

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
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(AP) — The Trump administration will announce indictments against Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and members of his inner circle for effectively converting Venezuela’s state into a criminal enterprise at the service of drug traffickers and terrorist groups, according to four people familiar with the situation.

The indictments from prosecutors in Miami and New York, which will encompass money-laundering and drug-trafficking charges, will be announced at a news conference by US Attorney General William Barr on Thursday, according to the four, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the indictments ahead of their unsealing.

The US is also expected to announce $25 million in rewards for information leading to the arrest or prosecution of Maduro and Diosado Cabello, head of the ruling socialist party. That’s according to two US officials familiar with the matter.

The State Department is expected to announce the reward offers at the same time the Justice Department goes public with the indictments, the officials said.

The indictment of a functioning head of state is highly unusual and is bound to ratchet up 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 US sanctions.

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 US sanctions.

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