The United States has doubled the bounty for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to $50 million, Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a video released on 7 August. President Donald Trump backed the measure, which seeks information leading to Maduro’s arrest on longstanding U.S. criminal charges. Bondi accused the Venezuelan leader of working with the Sinaloa Cartel and the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to ship cocaine and fentanyl into U.S. territory. She said authorities have seized more than 30 tonnes of cocaine and roughly $700 million in assets, including private aircraft and vehicles, tied to Maduro and his associates, calling him “one of the world’s biggest drug traffickers” and a threat to U.S. national security. The offer—up from the $25 million posted last year and larger than the amount once set for Osama bin Laden—marks the highest reward ever offered by Washington for a sitting head of state. Maduro, indicted by a U.S. grand jury in 2020 on narcoterrorism and corruption counts, rejects the accusations. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil dismissed the new reward as “pathetic” propaganda. The announcement follows Washington’s recent decision to restore a key oil license to Chevron for operations in Venezuela.