U.S. INDICTS MADURO FOR ‘NARCO-TERROR’

WASHINGTON The U.S. government on Thursday indicted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and more than a dozen other top Venezuelan officials on charges of “narco-terrorism,” the latest escalation of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign aimed at ousting the socialist leader.

The State Department offered a reward of up to $21 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Maduro, whose country has been convulsed by years of a deep economic crisis and political upheaval.

The indictment, a rare action for the United States against a foreign head of state, marks a new phase against Maduro by Washington. Attorney General William Barr, announcing charges that include narco-terrorism conspiracy, corruption, and drug trafficking, accused Maduro and his associates of colluding with a dissident faction of demobilized Colombian guerrilla group, the FARC, “to flood the United States with cocaine.”