The United States has doubled its reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to US$50 million, the largest bounty ever offered by Washington for a sitting head of state. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the increase in a video posted late Thursday, saying the Justice and State departments were taking “historic” action under President Donald Trump’s direction. Bondi accused Maduro of working with criminal groups including Tren de Aragua, Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles to traffic cocaine and foment violence inside the United States. She said the Drug Enforcement Administration has seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to the network—almost seven tons tied directly to Maduro—and that U.S. authorities have confiscated more than US$700 million in his assets, including two private jets and nine vehicles. U.S. prosecutors first charged Maduro with narcoterrorism in 2020, setting a US$15 million reward that was lifted to US$25 million in January. The new figure surpasses the sums once offered for al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, underscoring Washington’s assessment that the Venezuelan leader is “one of the world’s largest drug traffickers” and a national-security threat. Caracas rejected the announcement. Foreign Minister Yván Gil dismissed the offer as a “media circus,” while the Venezuelan armed forces labeled it an illegal act of interference and pledged loyalty to Maduro. Iran, Bolivia and other allies also condemned the measure, calling it colonialist and dangerous. The bounty was disclosed days after the U.S. restored a key oil license that could bolster Venezuela’s cash-strapped economy, signaling that Washington is pursuing parallel tracks of limited economic engagement and intensified criminal pressure on the Maduro government.