What specific charges has the US DOJ brought against Nicolás Maduro and his inner circle?
Executive summary
The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted Nicolás Maduro and at least 14 current and former Venezuelan officials on a suite of criminal counts including narco‑terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine and other drug‑trafficking offenses, weapons charges (possession and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices), and violations of U.S. sanctions laws such as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Kingpin Act [1] [2]. The indictments were announced in multiple jurisdictions (New York, Washington, Miami) and accompanied by large reward offers—initially up to $15 million in 2020 and later raised by U.S. authorities—reflecting both criminal charges and an effort to secure Maduro’s arrest or conviction [2] [3].
1. What the DOJ formally charged: narco‑terrorism and a pipeline of crimes
The DOJ’s public materials state that one superseding indictment accuses Maduro and co‑defendants of narco‑terrorism, substantial drug trafficking (including conspiracy to import cocaine), and weapons offenses—specifically possession and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices—alleging they used state power to shield and facilitate trafficking networks [2] [1].
2. Broader counts and sanctions‑related allegations
A separate superseding indictment alleges violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act), together with a related conspiracy to defraud the United States, signaling that charges go beyond narcotics and weapons to include alleged evasion of U.S. sanctions and financial controls [2].
3. Who else is named alongside Maduro
DOJ documents and U.S. law‑enforcement releases name multiple senior Venezuelan figures in the same cases: Diosdado Cabello, Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal, Clíver Alcalá, and others, plus leaders of Colombian FARC factions alleged to have colluded with Venezuelan officials—reflecting an indictment strategy that targets an inner circle rather than an isolated actor [2] [1].
4. Jurisdictions, investigations and asset seizures
The charges were announced across U.S. offices — notably the Southern District of New York, South Florida and Washington components — after multi‑agency investigations by DEA, ICE/HSI and others. U.S. officials have publicly tied the probe to seizures and prosecutions that they say netted hundreds of millions in assets and tons of cocaine, though the exact seizure totals are reported in different ways across sources [1] [4].
5. Rewards and diplomatic signaling
The criminal cases have been accompanied by escalating reward offers from the U.S. government’s Narcotics Rewards Program: an initial up‑to‑$15 million offer that U.S. agencies later raised, reflecting intensified pressure to obtain arrest information for Maduro — a move that doubles as law‑enforcement action and diplomatic signaling [2] [3].
6. The government’s framing and the opposition view
DOJ and DEA officials frame the indictments as exposing “devastating systemic corruption” and the weaponization of cocaine to harm the United States [2] [1]. Available sources note Maduro and his allies deny the allegations; external commentary and Venezuelan officials have described U.S. moves as political or propaganda, illustrating competing narratives that the DOJ criminalization strategy intersects with geopolitics [5] [6].
7. What the public sources do not detail
Available sources in this packet do not provide full indictments’ counts of every statutory provision or the specific indictment language for each named individual, nor do they include court docket text or the full evidentiary record; they summarize the chief allegations and the justice‑department characterization [2] [1]. For line‑by‑line statutory citations, the underlying indictment documents in court dockets would need to be consulted (not found in current reporting).
8. Why the DOJ combined criminal, sanctions and reward tools
Combining narco‑terrorism, trafficking, weapons and sanctions‑related charges allows prosecutors to pursue multiple legal avenues against an alleged transnational enterprise and to leverage financial sanctions and rewards to isolate defendants and incentivize cooperation or tips. This dual criminal‑and‑sanctions approach also serves U.S. policy objectives by constraining Venezuela’s leadership while preserving criminal remedies [2] [1].
Bottom line: U.S. authorities accuse Maduro and senior Venezuelan officials of leading an institutionalized drug‑trafficking enterprise protected by state power and of violating U.S. sanctions, charging a mix of narco‑terrorism, drug‑import conspiracies, weapons offenses and sanctions‑evasion crimes; public DOJ summaries and reward announcements reflect that mix but the detailed indictment text and evidentiary basis are not reproduced in the available sources [2] [1].