Washington Posts a 50 Million Dollar Bounty on the Venezuelan President

16-08-2025: The US (United States of America) government has doubled its bounty for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro “for violating US narcotics laws”. In a statement released by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the US government absurdly claims that Maduro is a leader of the Cartel de los Soles, which is supposedly responsible for trafficking drugs into the US. Somewhat conveniently, in July the US Department of Treasury designated Cartel de los Soles as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” (SDGT).[1] The fact that the US government can issue a $50 million reward for the prosecution of the President of a sovereign Latin American nation over allegations of drug trafficking creates a theatre of the absurd. In February, the US government labelled the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and several Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organisations.[2] As the saying goes, it takes one to know one.

Bolivarian Revolution survives

Within hours of the US State Department placing a $50 million bounty on the head of the Venezuelan President, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yvan Gil outplayed his counterpart Marco Rubio by announcing a $50 million reward for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, specifically referencing US Attorney General Pam Bondi’s failure to produce billionaire underage sex trafficker Epstein’s client list. This move of the US Attorney General is probably a cover for the historical links of US President Donald Trump and Epstein. “While the US peddles propaganda, we seek the truth”, stated Gil.[3] The US government’s fatuous allegations against Maduro are just the latest attempt by Washington at regime change, which has been its goal from the moment that former President Hugo Chavez was elected in 1998, which launched the “Bolivarian Revolution”. Former paratrooper Chavez, backed by the overwhelming majority of Venezuela’s working and poor majority, led a process which adopted a new constitution in 1999, and a new name for the nation – the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

The revolutionary project was based on “participative democracy, popular protagonism, anti-imperialism and socialism”.[4] However, as much as its supporters believed in the process and worked hard to defend it, it remained within the sphere of radical social democracy, rather than socialism. The Bolivarian Revolution did not build a workers’ state and left the capitalist economy and its major strategic drivers in private hands. Nevertheless, it was a huge breakthrough which helped tip the balance of class forces in favour of working people in Latin America and internationally. What is more, even the first steps towards a socialist process and independence from the US empire are more than enough to earn its wrath. Hugo Chavez passed away in 2013, and his successor Nicolas Maduro and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) when on to win elections in 2013, 2018 and 2024. The US backed Venezuelan right-wing disputed the result of every one of these elections, which led to them boycotting the parliamentary and regional elections in May this year. This led to the PSUV winning with around 82% of the vote, and 23 out of 24 state governor positions.[5]

Building multipolarity

The US backed Venezuelan right-wing claiming the 2024 Presidential elections were fraudulent is somewhat of a tragicomic replay of the aftermath of the 2018 Presidential elections. At that time, Juan Guaido declared himself to be the President of Venezuela, despite never winning a Presidential election, or running in one.[6] If the Bolivarian Revolution remained focused only on domestic tasks, such as lifting Venezuelans out of poverty and improving their standard of living, it would still have faced bitter regime change attempts from Washington. However, given the Bolivarian Revolution’s staunch position of anti-imperialism, and its dedicated support for emerging multipolarity, the stakes are now even higher. The US ruling class is desperate to pull the brakes on the developing multipolar world, the foremost expression of which is the non-imperialist Global South led BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa plus 15 other states) bloc. In a graphic display of the modern decay of capitalism, the days of a unipolar world with the USA at the centre are fast fading.

At the groundbreaking BRICS Summit in Russia in Kazan last year, Venezuela and Nicaragua were not included in the list of the 13 new BRICS partner countries, after an effective veto from Brazilian President “Lula” Da Silva.[7] Lula reportedly wanted to distance Brazil from the “disputed” 2024 Venezuelan elections, and Brazil and Nicaragua had been involved in expelling each other’s diplomatic staff after the Brazilian ambassador’s absence from the celebration of the Sandinista Revolution. In reality, these were treacherous moves from Lula, who did not want to be exposed within BRICS by the far more left-wing Venezuelan and Nicaraguan governments. Despite this, Venezuelan membership of BRICS is only a matter of time, given that all other BRICS members strongly support Venezuela’s candidacy, and Lula is a near octogenarian who cannot last forever.

Bolivarian Venezuela has deepened fraternal ties with the Russian Federation out of necessary military protection against US incursions. In November last year, Venezuela and Russia signed 17 agreements in security and energy projects. The Russian Federation is one major power which recognises Maduro’s victory in the July 2024 Presidential election. At the time, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko stated that Russia stood ready to support Venezuela’s armed forces with “the most sophisticated weapons and military equipment”.[8] There is little doubt that Russia’s military collaboration with Venezuela has had the effect of staying the hand of the Pentagon against Caracas. In 2018, Washington was alarmed by the moving of two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers to Venezuela.[9] The Tu-160, code named “Blackjack” by NATO officials, is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear tipped cruise missiles. In return, Venezuela has backed its ally Russia against NATO’s Nazified proxy war in Ukraine aimed at Moscow.

The Bolivarian Revolution has also developed strong links with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), arguably the strongest pillar of BRICS. Both former President Chavez and current President Maduro have visited Beijing for state visits on five occasions each. Venezuela and the PRC have extensive trade and investment ties, covering energy and mining, technical assistance, infrastructure, agricultural machinery, the military and housing.[10] Notwithstanding Venezuela’s considerable development of its domestic industries, this economic partnership compliments the military partnership with Russia. Additionally, Venezuela and the PRC are at one with the goal of developing multipolarity – a just and democratic world order. If this was not enough of a headache for Washington, Venezuela also has strong bonds with the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 2022, the two targets of US imperialism signed a 20 year cooperation agreement to expand ties in the oil and petrochemical industries, the military and the economy.[11] Iran has been sending fuel tankers to Venezuela to assist in in dealing with the extraordinary US sanctions, which has played havoc with Venezuela’s economy.

“Left” malcontents

It is plain to see why US imperialism is furious with Bolivarian Venezuela, and why it schemes and concocts the overthrow of Maduro at the earliest possible opportunity. Erik Prince, the reactionary founder of Blackwater (now “Academi”) private military contractors, has even suggested that they would be able to take out Maduro if the US government raised his bounty to $100 million ![12] Despite more or less open plotting for extreme violence in Venezuela to remove its government, US imperialism is unable to act due to the simple fact that the overwhelming majority of Venezuelans still support the Bolivarian Revolution. Moreover, many of them are prepared to defend it against the domestic right-wing opposition – even with its links to Washington. The reality that the Venezuelan armed forces have remained loyal to both Chavez and Maduro is also a crucially important factor.

Washington is rightly fearing the loss of its control over not only Latin America but the Global South. It is finding some unlikely allies amongst some self-described socialist parties amongst the Western left. Australia’s Socialist Alliance was once the strongest advocate of the Bolivarian Revolution, but has now seemingly crossed over into outright opposition, branding Maduro and the PSUV as “capitalist” and “authoritarian”.[13] One must wonder how exactly Venezuela is supposed to defend itself against internal subversion, surreptitiously facilitated by the CIA, without enacting any “authoritarianism”. In fact, no moves towards socialism would be possible if the Bolivarian Revolution did not defend itself. In the US, the “Trotskyist” Left Voice goes to great lengths to denounce Maduro and the PSUV as “authoritarian” and “antidemocratic”, while simultaneously claiming to also criticise and oppose the US backed pro-coup Venezuelan right.[14] Yet “a plague on both your houses” is scarcely helpful.

What the shrill cries against Maduro of these erstwhile left organisations reflect is the rapidly growing multipolar world and its direct challenge to imperialism. Just by offering an alternative to declining US hegemony, Venezuela and the BRICS states are laying the groundwork for its removal. Marxists within Venezuela would need to assemble a vanguard party while defending the Bolivarian Revolution against imperialism before anything else. Marxists internationally have a similar task – laying the basis for parties which uphold Permanent Revolution while working through and defending and extending the Bolivarian Revolution, the non-imperialist BRICS bloc and multipolarity. The triumph of socialism internationally will only follow if its practitioners take advantage of the forward march of humanity.

Workers League

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@protonmail.com

[1] www.state.gov/reward-offer-increase-of-up-to-50-million-for-information-leading-to-arrest-and-or-conviction-of-nicolas-maduro (13-08-2025)

[2] www.reuters.com/world/americas/us-increases-reward-arrest-venezuelas-maduro-50-million-2025-08-08/ (13-08-2025)

[3] www.nairaland.com/8493973/venezuela-offers-50-million-release (13-08-2025)

[4] www.venezuelanalysis.com/background/ (13-08-2025)

[5] www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/26/maduro-triumphs-in-venezuelan-election-boycotted-by-opposition (13-08-2025)

[6] www.ump-lycees.fr/en/why-did-juan-guaido-proclaim-himself-interim-president-of-venezuela (13-08-2025)

[7] www.havanatimes.org/news/nicaragua-and-venezuela-left-out-of-brics-countries-list/ (13-08-2025)

[8] www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/11/08/russia-signs-security-energy-deals-with-venezuela-a86944 (13-08-2025)

[9] www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2018/12/10/russia-sends-2-nuclear-capable-bombers-to-venezuela/ (13-08-2025)