Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was in the crosshairs long before he was taken into custody during a U.S. military strike Saturday morning.
A former bus driver, Maduro, 63, grew up in a working class family in Caracas with both parents coming from leftist backgrounds. He followed his father into union activism and politics.
A leftist radical with close ties to Cuba, Maduro rose up through the ranks of elected office to be named Venezuela’s vice president by tyrannical President Hugo Chavez in 2012, the year before the strongman died of cancer. He was then named interim president.
Shortages and decreased living standards in the South American country led to protests in 2014 that escalated into daily marches nationwide, government oppression of dissent, and a decline in Maduro’s popularity.
Maduro, a burly moustachioed leader, was often portrayed as a clown who simply repeated Chavez’s bombastic rhetoric, but he still won a narrow victory in that year’s presidential election for a six-year term.
Maduro has been repeatedly accused over the years of leading a drug and weapons trafficking organization called Cartel of the Suns made up of high-ranking Venezuelan officials working under him.
The allegations led Maduro to be charged in the Southern District of New York on narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine and possession of machine guns charges in March 2020.
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There’s been a standing reward for him for years, which Trump upped to $50 million in 2025 after declaring the Cartel of the Suns a terrorist group and Maduro its leader.
But Maduro has denied being a cartel leader, and has accused the US of using the “war on drugs” as a reason to try to depose him and obtain his country’s vast oil reserves.
Political opposition, including from now-Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, who is favored to follow Maduro as president, have led to continued street protests in Caracas and other cities, which have led to violent suppression and casualties.
During his 13 years as president, Maduro was often flanked by his wife, Cilia Flores, who held various high ranking positions in his administration, including attorney general. She was taken into custory with her husband.
Maduro survived an assasination attempt when drones detonated explosives near him during a televised address in 2018 injuring several soldiers, but was declared victor in the country’s election that year.
But in 2019 the National Assembly of Venezuela declared he had wrongfully seized control and was not the country’s legal president. That led more than 50 countries, including the United States, to refuse to recognize him as Venezuela’s leader.
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To deflect blame for his country’s woes, Maduro frequently accuses the United States of plotting to kill him and Western nations of ruining his country’s economy. He has maintained ties with China, Russia and other countries that have helped Venezuela stay above water.
Maduro again declared himself winner in the July 2024 presidential election despite evidence to the contrary. The military action Saturday followed months of U.S. attacks on boats accused of shipping drugs from the country.
There were 35 known strikes against the boats in South American waters since early September and at least 115 people have been killed, according to announcements from the administration.
On Thurday, Maduro told Venezuelan state TV he was ready for dialogue with the US “wherever they want and whenever they want.”
But it was a little too little, too late. Trump forged ahead with military action, taking the power couple into custody.
