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Editor's Note: Carlos Alberto Montaner is a writer and political analyst for CNN. His columns are published in dozens of newspapers in Spain, the United States and Latin America. Montaner is also vice-president of the Liberal International. The opinions expressed in this column are exclusive to the author.
(CNN Spanish) - As is notorious, the staff of the Ministry of Justice called for the prosecution of Nicolás Maduro and his greatest accomplices, almost all in the Venezuelan government.
The crimes attributed to them are very serious and any nation can prosecute them: international drug trafficking, money laundering, collaboration with drug terrorists and large-scale corruption.
Even, a prize of US $ 15 million was arranged for whoever gives information that leads to the arrest of Nicolás Maduro and another 40 by four of his closest collaborators and former collaborators. Two of them, by the way, in exile: Hugo Carvajal and Clíver Alcalá.
- MIRA: Maduro calls "blatantly extremist action" accusations of US drug terrorism
According to the government statement, the Anti-Narcotics Division has paid more than $ 130 million in exchange for information about 75 drug traffickers since it was created in 1986. It is known that $ 25 million was offered by the head of Osama Bin Laden. It is not known whether or not they paid the reward.
On Thursday, March 26, the measures against Maduro were announced. Why the remarkable display of information? I believe that senior official Elliott Abrams, coordinator of the Venezuelan case, was taking revenge on those who previously teased the United States.
It cannot be forgotten that both William Barr, current Secretary of Justice of the Trump government, equivalent to a Minister of Justice, and Abrams, were part of the George Bush Sr. government during the invasion of Panama and are considered "hard line".
- MORE: The United States Accused Nicolás Maduro for Narcoterrorism, Drug Trafficking, and Other Crimes
In those years, US $ 1 million was offered for the head of the narco-dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega.
Today, when it is said that in the Venezuelan case all options are open, it could be true: from an attack on the facilities of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, to the naval blockade of the country; I guess there are contingency plans for everything.
The idea is that there cannot be a government dedicated to drug trafficking without the international community trying to avoid it.
Nicolás Maduro