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Florida Republican Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio will introduce a bill in the U.S. Senate that proposes to raise the reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro from $15 million to $100 million.
According to El Nuevo Herald, the Stop Maduro Law allows the U.S. government to avoid using taxpayer money to pay the reward, following the indictment presented in 2020 by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The goal is to seize assets that have already been confiscated in the United States belonging to Maduro and his allies, which amount to approximately 450 million dollars, according to Scott's office, which posted the intention on the social media platform X.
Senator Rubio also used the platform to announce the project.
Earlier this month, federal authorities confiscated an aircraft frequently used by Maduro, valued at 13 million dollars, which had been held in the Dominican Republic.
Florida Republican Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart will introduce complementary bipartisan legislation in the House of Representatives, with the support of Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Republicans Carlos Giménez, María Elvira Salazar, and Mike Waltz, as well as Puerto Rican Representative Jenniffer González Colón and Republican Chris Smith from New Jersey, the cited media outlet reported.
The U.S. government and others around the world have accused Maduro of stealing the presidential elections held on July 28 with the assistance of the Electoral Council and the Supreme Court of Venezuela, both of which are under his control.
Despite evidence showing that he lost to opposition candidate Edmundo González, Maduro was declared the winner. The opposition published online the voting receipts from over 80 percent of the machines, demonstrating that González won with at least 67 percent of the votes.
However, the Electoral Council has yet to release the official results, despite repeated requests from foreign governments.
"The Venezuelan people voted overwhelmingly for a new day of freedom and democracy on July 28 when they elected Edmundo González, in an effort led by opposition leader María Corina Machado," declared Senator Scott.
"It is clear that Maduro will not resign on his own, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill to free Venezuela and the world from Maduro's oppression, allowing the elected president González to restore democracy, freedom, and opportunities to the country," he added, as quoted by El Nuevo Herald.
González was forced to seek exile in Spain since last Sunday after receiving threats of arrest from officials of Maduro's government.
In a video posted on Wednesday, he claimed that he was forced to sign a letter accepting Maduro's alleged election victory in order to leave the country, under the threat of facing imprisonment.
"I either signed or faced the consequences," he recounted about the meeting at the Spanish ambassador's residence in Caracas. "It was a very tense few hours of coercion, blackmail, and pressure."
Last week, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned 16 Venezuelan officials from the National Electoral Council and the Supreme Court who assisted Maduro in the electoral fraud.
On Thursday, the European Parliament officially recognized González as the elected president, a step that the Biden administration has yet to take, without any official explanation, reported El Nuevo Herald.
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