WASHINGTON – Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), co-chair of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of State Antony Blinken requesting an explanation of what legal actions, if any, the Justice and State Departments have taken to seek the arrest and extradition of Nicolas Maduro since 2021.
“In March 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice announced indictments against 15 current and former Venezuelan officials, including Nicolas Maduro, for allegedly collaborating with senior members of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia terrorist organization to use cocaine as a weapon to ‘flood’ the United States,” the senators wrote.
“Nevertheless, we have noted that Maduro has traveled at least three times since January 2021 to countries with which the United States has extradition treaties,” the senators continued. “In September 2021, Maduro attended a meeting of Latin American officials in Mexico. In May 2023, Maduro traveled to Brazil. This October, Maduro had the nerve to travel to Mexico again to participate in conversations about the illegal immigration crisis caused in great part by the actions of the narco-terrorist organization he leads.”
“Failure to enforce the U.S. indictment of Nicolas Maduro prolongs the illegal immigration and illicit drug crisis threatening the security of the United States and the Western Hemisphere at large. Therefore, we ask that you inform us by November 26, 2023, what, if any, legal actions you took to seek the arrest and extradition of Nicolas Maduro during his international travels since January 2021,” the senators concluded.
Read the full letter HERE.
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