Nicolás Maduro Moros rose to power in Venezuela in 2013 following the death of longtime leader Hugo Chávez, positioning himself as the political heir to the Bolivarian revolution. His grip on power, however, has remained deeply contested at home and abroad for more than a decade.
Maduro claimed victory in the 2018 presidential election, a result widely rejected by opposition forces and international observers. In 2019, Venezuela’s National Assembly declared that he had unlawfully assumed office, citing constitutional breaches and naming an interim government. That move triggered a diplomatic rupture that saw more than 50 countries, including the United States, refuse to recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate president.
The legitimacy crisis resurfaced after Venezuela’s July 2024 presidential election, when Maduro again announced his victory amid allegations of widespread irregularities. The United States and several allied nations rejected the result, reinforcing their long standing position that Maduro lacks a lawful mandate to govern.
Beyond electoral disputes, Maduro has faced some of the most serious criminal allegations ever levelled against a sitting head of state. United States authorities have accused him of leading the so-called Cartel of the Suns, an alleged drug trafficking network involving senior Venezuelan officials. According to US prosecutors, the group collaborated with Colombia’s Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, in a narco-terrorism scheme centered on large scale cocaine trafficking, arms transfers, and transnational criminal operations.
In March 2020, the US Department of Justice formally charged Maduro in the Southern District of New York with narco-terrorism and related offences. The US State Department subsequently placed a bounty on his arrest, initially offering 15 million dollars, which was later increased to 25 million dollars in January 2025. By August 2025, the reward reportedly rose to 50 million dollars after the Cartel of the Suns was designated by Washington as a global terrorist organization, the highest figure ever announced under the US Narcotics Rewards Program.
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These developments have now converged with reports that Maduro was recently apprehended by US forces inside Venezuela, a claim that has sent shockwaves through diplomatic and security circles worldwide. While official confirmation remains limited, reports indicate that the long running standoff between Maduro and Washington may have reached a decisive turning point.
According to emerging information, Nicolás Maduro is now expected to face trial in a United States court following his reported arrest, marking a dramatic fall for a leader who once wielded absolute power at home while defying international pressure abroad.
If confirmed, the case would represent an unprecedented moment in global politics, raising urgent questions about sovereignty, international law, and the future of Venezuela’s political order as the world watches what happens next.
