Since August 2025, the Departments of State and Justice increased from 25 million to 50 million dollars the reward for information for the capture of Ripe. He was one of Washington’s most wanted fugitives.
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In the United States, they accuse Ripe four counts: narcoterrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, possession and use of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess and use automatic weapons and destructive devices, according to court documents. If convicted, the maximum sentence that awaits him is life imprisonment.
A man pastes a sign that says “Reward of U$50,000,000” with the image of Nicolás Maduro in Miguel de Cervantes park, near the Venezuelan embassy in Lima, on January 3, 2026. (Photo by Connie FRANCE / AFP).
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This courtroom sketch shows Venezuela’s deposed president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, attending their appearance in Federal Court in New York. (Jane ROSENBERG / AFP).
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Maduro was arrested on January 3 by a command of the Delta Force of the United States, in the midst of a intense bombing in Caracas and other cities in Venezuela.
The Chavista leader was taken to the United States and appeared in federal court in New York, where the charges against him were formalized.
The interim president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, taking the oath before the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez (right), and deputy Nicolás Maduro Guerra. (AFP).
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Your vice president, Delcy Rodriguezwas sworn in as interim president by order of the Supreme Court of Justice. She maintains two ministers in her Cabinet. key figures of chavismo who are accused in the United States of drug trafficking and other alleged crimes.
Diosdado Cabello, Minister of the Interior
A Venezuelan citizen holds a sign with the image of Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello during a demonstration in support of United States President Donald Trump in Katy, west of Houston, Texas. (EFE/ Carlos Ramírez).
Diosdado Hair He is considered the number two of Chavismo, below Ripe. Is Minister of the Interior from August 2024. Before, he was president of the National Assembly and during the regime of Hugo Chavez was vice president of Venezuela.
After the fall from grace of Ripeand the subsequent swearing-in of Delcy Rodriguez, Cabello remains Minister of the Interior.
In the United States, Cabello has a judicial file in the Federal Court of the Southern District of New York (SDNY)the same one who is carrying out the case against Ripe and other Chavista leaders and former soldiers.
TO Hair accuses him of narcoterrorism conspiracy for his alleged links with the so-called Cartel of the Suns, the FARC of Colombia and other criminal organizations. Also for trafficking and distribution of cocaine and conspiracy to violate the weapons and destructive devices law.
The file mentions that Cabello would have coordinated or facilitated cocaine routes from Venezuela to the United Statesusing connections with armed groups and drug traffickers.
By January 2026, the United States Government offers a reward of 25 million dollars for information leading to Cabello’s arrest. Before that reward was 10 million dollars.
Vladimir Padrino López, Minister of the Interior
The United States offers 15 million dollars for the capture of Vladimir Padrino López.
The general Vladimir Padrino López He is Minister of Defense of Venezuela since October 24, 2014, ratified in office several times by Maduro and now by the president Delcy Rodriguezwhom he publicly recognized as head of state on behalf of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB).
Godfather Lopez is he defense minister who has been in office the longest in the recent history of Venezuela. Before becoming minister, he held the second position in command of the land military force.
The soldier consolidated himself as a political figure after remaining loyal to Hugo Chavez during the attempted coup d’état of April 2002, when he was a colonel at Fuerte Tiuna.
Since 2020, Vladimir Padrino López has an active federal indictment in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (Washington DC).
Padrino is prevented from conspiring to distribute cocaine with aircraft registered in the United States. The federal grand jury indicts him for conspire from March 2014 to May 2019 with other individuals to distribute cocaine aboard planes registered in the United Statesviolating Title 21 of the United States Code and other sections of the United States Federal Code.
He is also accused of abuse of authority and bribery of drug traffickers and facilitation of transcontinental drug trafficking.
The United States offers 15 million dollars for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Padrino López.
America’s political calculus
From left to right, the Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López; the Minister of the Interior, Diosdado Cabello; and the president in charge of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez. (EFE/ Miraflores Palace).
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The international analyst Francisco Belaunde Matossian warns a central contradiction in the United States strategy towards Venezuelapointing out that, after the capture of Ripe and his accusation for narcoterrorismWashington maintains millionaire rewards against other senior Chavista leaders while tolerates that they continue to exercise power.
“Only Maduro was captured; everything else remains the same”, summarizes Belaunde, pointing out that the rest of the Chavista structure remains intact in power in Venezuela.
According to the analyst, this situation would respond to a pragmatic agreement with the new regime Delcy Rodriguezwhich would allow his government to be sustained while gradually moving towards a transition process that still does not have an established calendar.
In this context, Belaunde points out that Washington would have explored the possibility of offering negotiated solutionssuch as exile with guarantees, to figures of hard Chavismo, such as Cabelllo and Padrino López, in exchange for clearing the path towards the democratic transition in Venezuela.
“It’s a kind of calculated tolerance.”explains, aimed at avoid a scenario of total destabilizationeven if that means living temporarily with leaders accused of drug trafficking for American justice. Belaunde maintains that simultaneously capturing Maduro, Cabello and Padrino was considered unfeasible by Washington, as figures such as the Secretary of State publicly admitted. Marco Rubio.
However, the analyst emphasizes that this strategy has obvious political costssince it weakens the message of fighting transnational crime that the United States claims to lead in Latin America, a speech that has deteriorated after the pardon granted by Trump to the former president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandezwho had been convicted of drug trafficking. “Venezuela is stabilized, but at the cost of living with figures accused of serious crimes,” point.
Belaunde considers that this situation it would not be sustainable over time and estimates that, at some point, Washington will end up demanding the departure of these leaders. However, he admits that the real scope of the agreement with the current power in Caracas still opaque.
Finally, he warns that while the focus of American discourse on Venezuela concentrate on oil and stabilityand not in the purge of Chavista power, the message against drug trafficking and regional crime is seriously eroded.
