MIAMI — A federal judge in Miami has awarded $73 million in damages to the family of a prominent opponent of Venezuela's socialist government who died while in custody in what he described as a"murder for hire" carried out by a criminal enterprise led by President Nicolás Maduro.
The family accused the men of belonging to the"Cartel of the Suns," a purported drug-smuggling ring involving top Venezuelan officials and guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia — a designated terrorist group — that allegedly sends 200 metric tons of cocaine from Venezuela into the U.S. each year.
"Mr. Albán's murder was a murder for hire because members of the Maduro Criminal Enterprise who committed the murder received payment from the Maduro regime," the court said.