Florida senators Rubio and Scott introduce bill to set reward for arrest of Nicolas Maduro

Florida GOP Senator Rick Scott has introduced legislation to give a maximum reward of $100 million for information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He was joined by GOP Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida's other U.S. senator, when announcing his legislation.

“The time has come for Venezuela to be liberated from the illegitimate regime of dictator Nicolás Maduro," Scott said in a statement on Thursday. "For years, I have urged the Biden-Harris administration to put the full weight of the federal government to put an end to the Maduro regime, but it has refused and continued its failed appeasement that has only enriched and emboldened Maduro and his puppet masters in Cuba at the expense of the Venezuelan people."

Maduro was declared the winner of Venezuela's presidential election in late July, though the U.S. has recognized the opposition's Edmundo González as the legitimate victor. 

Maduro first took office in 2013. In 2018, he won reelection in a widely criticized contest that led to civil unrest.

Rubio said that the U.S. has to do more to arrest Maduro. 

"Maduro is one of the Venezuelan regime’s most corrupt schemers and it’s past time he is held accountable for his crimes," Rubio said. 

"The reward would be paid out by the federal government using seized assets already being withheld from Maduro, officials of the Maduro regime and their co-conspirators, not taxpayer funds," according to the statement. Those seized assets are worth approximately $450 million.