Reward offered in case of pro-Maduro graffiti in Bayfront Park after Venezuelan rally

The city of Miami is offering a $25,000 reward for information on the authors of graffiti written on a Bayfront Park wall declaring that the “Bolivarian fury is here,” echoing a message widely used by the Venezuelan government to intimidate its opponents.

In Venezuela the message was most recently used by the government to dissuade voters from participating in the presidential election on July 28.

The threat is usually spray painted at night on buildings or homes linked to the opposition movement, as a warning that they could soon be targeted by paramilitary gangs linked to the regime.

In Miami the message was written on a wall of the park where days earlier some 8,000 Venezuelans protested against what they called the latest attempt by strongman Nicolás Maduro to remain in the presidency through electoral fraud.

“Bolivarian” is a reference to Simon Bolivar, the 19th Century South American independence leader. The regime in Caracas calls the country the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

South Florida has the largest community of Venezuelans living in the United States and Miami is frequently mentioned by Maduro and high-ranking members of his regime as the capital of a permanent conspiracy to overthrow him.

The $25,000 reward was offered by the Bayfront Park Trust, a city agency, a few hours after the discovery of the graffiti. It’s unclear when the graffiti first showed up, but it comments about began to appear on social media on Wednesday.

Some 800,000 Venezuelans have sought refuge in the United States in recent years, many of them to escape political persecution or the economic collapse attributed to the socialist regime in Caracas.

Gang members and people linked to paramilitary groups affiliated with the Maduro regime are believed to be hiding among Venezuelans living abroad, according to former Venezuelan police officials now residing in Miami.