Sen. Rubio to U.S. Justice Dept.: ARREST MADURO NOW

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio sent a letter Monday to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas calling for the arrest of Venezuelan communist leader Nicolás Maduro based on a 2020 U.S. indictment stemming from drug charges.

“I write to request that you direct the U.S. National Central Bureau to immediately submit a request to Interpol’s Secretary General to publish a red notice for the provisional arrest of Nicolás Maduro Moros, the former President of Venezuela,” Rubio wrote.

“As you know, Maduro is a criminal accused of partnering with terrorist organizations to use illegal drugs as weapons against the United States. In the interest of U.S. national security and regional stability, Maduro must stand trial for his crimes against the Venezuelan people,” he added.

The charges originated from a March 26, 2020 indictment when the U.S. Department of Justice charged Maduro and 14 of his associates with narco-terrorism, corruption, drug trafficking, and other criminal charges.

The Justice Department’s drug charges were based on the Venezuelan regime’s lengthy track record of “embezzling the national resources and wealth that rightfully belong to the Venezuelan people, support for international terrorist organizations like the Army of National Liberation, and support for a decades long policy of flooding the United States with cocaine and other illegal drugs,” Rubio said.

Rubio further complained that, although the U.S. currently recognizes National Assembly President Juan Guaidó as the Interim President of Venezuela, Maduro still asserts power over the mechanisms of the state to preserve his power and criminal cartel.

The United States and other nations made a determination in 2019 that Maduro’s “victory” in the elections that year were illegitimate.

Despite that, Maduro has not stood trial in the U.S. for his alleged crimes against the American and Venezuelan people.

Rubio observed that Maduro must feel safe enough to travel abroad to get support from other authoritarian countries. This past weekend, the Venezuelan communist leader traveled to Tehran to sign a cooperation agreement with Iran in hopes to thwart U.S. sanctions.

He has also reportedly toured African and Asian countries.

“The United States should pursue all options available to ensure that international fugitives, like former President Maduro, stand trial. Unlike red notice requests submitted by the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Turkey, red notice requests submitted by the United States are grounded in fact and always guarantee the full right to a fair trial – we expect a red notice request for Maduro to be no different,” Rubio noted.

“The United States has been at the forefront in the global fight against the scourge of international narcotics trafficking and transnational terrorism. Our adversaries in that fight should have no reason to doubt our resolve. I stand ready to support your efforts to bring Maduro and his criminal associates to stand trial in the United States.”