2024: Erik Prince is Willing to Assassinate President Maduro for $100 million

Erik Prince founded the private military company Blackwater in 1997. The company grew rapidly after 9/11/2001, securing billions in government contracts during the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Prince sold Blackwater in 2010. He currently has a network of private military contractors and he lobbies for military and security contracts.

In 2019, Prince pushed a plan to provide mercenaries for actions against the Venezuelan government:

·       “Erik Prince has been pushing a plan to deploy a private army to help topple Venezuela’s President Maduro. Prince’s pitch calls for starting with intelligence operations and later deploying 4,000 to 5,000 soldiers for hire from Columbia and other Latin American nations to conduct combat and stabilization operations.” [1]

On March26, 2020, U.S. Attorney General William Barr charged Venezuelan President Maduro with narco-terrorism and drug trafficking. The US offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Maduro. In an August 7, 2025 video, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the United States was increasing the offer to $50 million.

In an August 2024 X post, Prince wrote that mercenaries would be ready to assassinate Venezuelan President Maduro provided the US raise the bounty to $100 million. He said that the US could pay the assassins from frozen Venezuelan government money already in US banks. [2]

·       “According to some international news outlets, Prince is organizing high-level private meetings in the United States and Europe to seek investment and political support from influential Trump supporters and wealthy Venezuelan exiles to deploy a private army in Venezuela with the intention of attacking Maduro.” [3]

·       Prince set up a website https://yacasivenezuela.com/ to receive donations for an invasion of Venezuela. Prince claimed to have collected over $1 million before the effort was aborted due to charges of embezzlement.[4]

“How can they pay for such a force? Florida senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio introduced legislation that, if approved, would do just that”.[5] On September 19,2024 Scott and Rubio introduced a Bill to increase the maximum reward to $100 million.

1.      Reuters, Blackwater founder’s latest sales pitch-mercenaries for Venezuela, April 30, 2019

2.      Orinoco Tribune, Mercenary Group Blackwater Boss Wants $100 Million to Assassinate President Maduro, 8/2/2024

3.      Orinoco Tribune, Erik Prince is the New ‘Hero’ of the Venezuelan Far-Right Opposition, September 11, 2024

4.      Vaz, Ricardo, Venezuela: Maduro Reports ’Mercenary’ Detentions; Former Candidate Marquez Arrested, Venezuelanalysis, January 8, 2025

5.      Reisbeck, Daniel, Venezuelans Have a Right to Regain Their Freedom, CATO Institute Blog, October 25, 2024

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