“Hungry for justice”
Members of the Venezuelan diaspora community in the United States similarly hailed the bounty as sending a strong signal against the Maduro regime.
Aminta G. is a Venezuelan business owner and U.S. permanent resident who has lived in Texas for decades but is anxious to return to her home country.
She asked to use a pseudonym, fearing that her words could endanger her family in Venezuela.
“I’m hungry for justice,” Aminta said. “There has been too much suffering for too long.”
The bounty, she explained, helps legitimize the opposition’s pressure on the Maduro regime.
“Having a $50 million bounty on this man’s head confirms that we are not dealing with a bad president,” she said. “He’s a criminal.”
Meanwhile, Maria told Al Jazeera that she had first-hand experience of President Maduro’s campaign of repression.
She said the Maduro government removed her from her position as prosecutor. Although she did not receive an official explanation for her dismissal, the reason was clear to Maria.
“The real reason I was fired was because I refused to participate in corruption, fabricating criminal cases, and prosecuting innocent people,” she said.
“Within the regime-controlled judicial system, it was common for prosecutors and judges to be pressured to charge people without evidence. I rejected that.”
She has since applied for asylum in the United States, which is currently in progress.
However, her stay in the US is unstable. Maria is currently in the United States legally under a designation called Temporary Protected Status (TPS). This is a form of short-term protection for people whose home country is deemed unsafe.
But she has nightmares about being deported to Venezuela, where she fears torture. The Trump administration has sought to eliminate TPS for many recipients, including Venezuelans, as part of its immigration crackdown.
Still, she supports Trump’s bounty campaign. Even though compensation alone won’t solve all of Venezuela’s problems, Maria said it gives her something to believe in. This means that the man who caused her torment is also considered a criminal by others.
It’s enough to make her use the careful word “hope.”
“Our hope is real,” she said. “But that’s not naive.”
