In a dramatic escalation of international legal pressure, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were apprehended during a surprise military operation in Venezuela early Saturday. The capture sets the stage for a landmark judicial proceeding in Manhattan federal court against the leader of the oil-rich South American nation.
The U.S. Justice Department has unsealed a comprehensive indictment portraying Maduro’s government as a “corrupt, illegitimate regime” sustained by an elaborate drug-trafficking network that allegedly flooded American cities with thousands of tons of cocaine. The document charges Maduro with four serious offenses: narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess such weapons.
According to the indictment, Maduro systematically collaborated with “some of the most violent and prolific drug traffickers and narco-terrorists in the world,” including Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and the Tren de Aragua criminal organization. The Venezuelan government allegedly provided law enforcement protection and logistical support to cartels moving drugs throughout the region, resulting in approximately 250 tons of cocaine trafficked through Venezuela annually by 2020.
The court documents further accuse Maduro and his wife of ordering kidnappings, beatings, and murders against those who interfered with their drug operations or owed them money. Flores faces additional allegations of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to facilitate meetings between drug traffickers and Venezuelan anti-drug officials.
The operation to capture Maduro was characterized by U.S. officials as a “law enforcement function” conducted at the request of the Justice Department. Attorney General Pam Bondi declared that Maduro and his wife “will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.” Maduro is currently being held at a federal detention facility in Brooklyn awaiting trial, with video evidence showing him smiling while escorted by DEA agents in New York.
This prosecution builds upon earlier charges brought against Maduro in 2020 during the Trump administration, with the new indictment adding charges against his wife. The case represents one of the most significant attempts to prosecute a sitting head of state on U.S. soil for international drug trafficking offenses.