Nicolas Maduro

Profile

Nicolas Maduro Moros (b. 1962) ruled Venezuela from 2013 until his capture in a U.S. military operation in early 2026. He is the central figure in the criminal and sanctions records tracked by this project. U.S. federal prosecutors describe him as the head of the so-called Cartel de los Soles, a network that allegedly aligns senior Venezuelan officials to ship cocaine into the United States.[doj-2020-03-26-indictment][state-2025-11-24-fto-soles]

2020 indictment

On 26 March 2020 the U.S. Department of Justice announced charges against Maduro and other officials for narco-terrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices. The case was filed in the Southern District of New York and describes an alleged partnership with FARC actors to flood the United States with cocaine.[doj-2020-03-26-indictment][reuters-2020-03-26-charges]

That same day the State Department's Rewards for Justice program offered USD 15 million for information leading to his arrest.[state-2020-03-26-rewards] In January 2025 the reward was raised to USD 25 million, and on 7 August 2025 it was raised again to USD 50 million, the largest U.S. reward ever placed on a foreign head of state.[state-2025-08-07-maduro-bounty]

2025 designations

On 25 July 2025 Treasury's OFAC designated the Cartel de los Soles as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224. The release identified Maduro as the head of a network that, according to the U.S. government, provides material support to Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel.[treasury-2025-07-25-soles-sdgt]

On 24 November 2025 the State Department designated the Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The statement explicitly names Maduro and "high-ranking individuals of the illegitimate Maduro regime" as the group's leadership.[state-2025-11-24-fto-soles]

Capture and pending proceedings

Maduro was captured by U.S. forces in Caracas on 3 January 2026, transferred to the Southern District of New York, and arraigned in Brooklyn. Executive Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez assumed the interim presidency in Caracas.[npr-2026-01-18-cabello-enforcer]

On 5 January 2026, federal prosecutors filed a superseding indictment in the same case, adding his wife Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro, his son Nicolas Ernesto Maduro Guerra ("Nicolasito"), former minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and the alleged head of Tren de Aragua Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores ("Nino Guerrero"). Crucially, the revised charging document stepped back from the earlier claim that the "Cartel de los Soles" is a formal criminal organization; it now describes it as a "patronage system" and a "culture of corruption" through which Venezuelan elites enrich themselves via drug trafficking and the protection of their trafficking partners.[doj-2026-01-05-maduro-revised-indictment][nyt-2026-01-05-cartel-de-los-soles-claim][insightcrime-2026-shifting-portrait]

Secretary of State Marco Rubio continued to publicly refer to the group as an actual cartel on television appearances the following weekend.[nyt-2026-01-05-cartel-de-los-soles-claim]

Reference status

This profile summarises official government actions and U.S. judicial filings. Criminal counts are prosecutorial allegations and must be treated as such until a final adjudication, even though administrative designations (sanctions, FTO, reward listing) have immediate legal effects within U.S. jurisdiction.[doj-2020-03-26-indictment]