Fact Check: Did Joe Biden place a $25M reward on Nicolas Maduro during his tenure?

WASHINGTON, DC: Democrats blasted President Donald Trump for launching an aggressive military operation on Saturday, January 3, to capture President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.

But many claimed former Democratic President Joe Biden had already placed a $25 million bounty on Maduro’s head. 

How the claim spread online

One of the loudest voices was former New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who slammed critics of Nicolas Maduro’s removal from power as “cynical and irresponsible.”

Adams made the comment in response to a post by former Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, in which she said, “Trump’s actions in Venezuela do not make the US safer, stronger, or more affordable.”

“That Maduro is a brutal, illegitimate dictator does not change the fact that this action was both unlawful and unwise. We’ve seen this movie before. Wars for regime change or oil that are sold as strength but turn into chaos, and American families pay the price,” she declared.

Adams’ post quickly racked up millions of views and thousands of likes as of this writing. “You do not label someone a n*rco-dictator one year and then pretend he is no longer a threat the next simply because a different president is in office. That is cynical and irresponsible,” Adams said. The claim then spread further across X and Facebook.

Senator Katie Boyd Britt, a Republican from Alabama, also agreed with Adams’ assertion that the Biden–Harris administration had placed a $25 million bounty on Maduro.

Fact Check: Nicolas Maduro bounty predates Biden administration

The Biden administration did not originally place a bounty on Nicolas Maduro. However, it did increase an existing reward that had been established years earlier. 

Because the underlying bounty existed before Biden took office and was only raised during his administration, the claim is rated mostly true but not fully accurate. It is also worth noting that the US government’s standoff with Maduro dates back more than a decade.

On March 8, 2015, then-President Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13692, declaring a national emergency over the threat posed by Venezuela’s government to US national security. Maduro had been in office for two years at that point.

Obama’s order targeted Venezuelan officials accused of anti-democratic actions, human rights violations, suppression of freedom of expression, and public corruption. Those sanctioned were barred from entering the United States.

In response to Obama’s move, Maduro asked Venezuela’s National Assembly to grant him the power to rule by decree, a request the legislature approved.

Both Trump and Biden exerted pressure

On March 26, 2020, the Trump administration announced indictments against Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of n*rco-t*rrorism, corruption, and d*ug trafficking.

That same day, the United States Department of State unveiled a $15 million reward for information related to Maduro. Separately, it offered $10 million for information leading to the capture of four other Venezuelan officials.

By 2024, Venezuela held another presidential election during Biden administration. The opposition used “detailed and credible data” to conclude its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, likely won. Gonzalez later said members of Maduro’s entourage forced him to concede defeat in exchange for permission to seek asylum in Spain.

The Biden administration took further action following continued repression of political opponents. On January 10, 2025, the United States Department of the Treasury modified Barack Obama’s executive order to sanction eight Venezuelan government officials.

At the same time, the State Department increased the existing $15 million bounty to “$25 million each for information leading to the arrest and/or convictions of Maduro and Maduro’s named Minister of Interior, Justice, and Peace, Diosdado Cabello.” The administration also added a $15 million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino.

Then, in August of last year, the Trump administration’s Departments of State and Justice announced they were increasing the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest or conviction to $50 million.

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.