The U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, responded emphatically to those who question the existence of evidence regarding the criminal nature of the Venezuelan regime, reminding that Nicolás Maduro was formally charged by a federal grand jury in New York for narcoterrorism and international drug trafficking offenses.
“Maduro is involved in the drug trade. And I'm not the one saying it, I'm not making it up. He was indicted by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York in 2020, a process that went unchallenged until President Trump decided to take action,” Rubio stated in a recent interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News.
The head of U.S. diplomacy emphasized that the attempts by certain sectors of the left to “deny the obvious” are unsustainable. “We have a formal accusation, not political, but judicial. It is a federal document, with proven charges and a reward of 50 million dollars for his capture,” Rubio recalled.
An accusation that transcends borders
The accusation referenced by the Secretary of State was filed in March 2020 by the Southern District of New York's prosecutor's office, as recently recalled by The New York Times.
The 28-page document describes Maduro as the head of the “Cartel of the Suns”, a network of military and political officials that has allegedly allowed the transit of tons of cocaine from Colombia to the United States over the past two decades.
The indictment states that the cartel, under Maduro's supervision, "prioritized the use of cocaine as a weapon against the United States," in collaboration with the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Rubio emphasized that Washington's actions are not arbitrary but rather part of a hemispheric anti-drug operation. "Maduro fears the military presence of the United States in the Caribbean because he knows it directly implicates him. Venezuela is not a legitimate state; it is a drug trafficking transshipment organization," he stated.
The "fugitive from U.S. justice"
The Times recalled that the charges against Maduro include conspiracy for narco-terrorism, cocaine importation, and possession of military weapons, offenses that could lead to a life sentence.
In that sense, Rubio described him as "a fugitive from U.S. justice," marking a point of no return in the bilateral relationship.
In the context of the current regional crisis, the Secretary of State linked Washington's diplomatic and military offensive to the need to stop what he described as “a drug dictatorship that has turned Venezuela into the operational base for Iran and terrorist organizations on the continent.”
Rubio's statement, issued amid escalating tensions and while the White House is considering new actions against Caracas, made it clear that the Trump administration not only views Maduro as a dictator but also as an international criminal condemned by U.S. justice.
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