Cilia Flores, wife of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, along with Maduro himself, has pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan court to charges including cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns, and narco-terrorism conspiracy. The couple was reportedly apprehended in Caracas in an operation described by US authorities as an arrest and by Maduro as a kidnapping. The charges are part of an updated indictment from the US Department of Justice, which alleges extensive involvement in drug trafficking and corruption within Venezuela.
Court Appearance and Charges
Cilia Flores, 69, and Nicolás Maduro appeared in a New York federal court, where both entered pleas of not guilty to a range of charges. Flores stated, "Not guilty, completely innocent," while Maduro informed the judge that he considered himself to have been "kidnapped." The indictment details allegations including narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. The couple is indicted alongside Maduro's son, Nicolás Ernesto Maduro Guerra, and other Venezuelan individuals.
Apprehension Details
Reports indicate that Flores and Maduro were removed from their Caracas residence and transported to the USS Iwo Jima, which was positioned off the coast, following an operation by US special forces early Saturday morning local time. Flores's lawyer stated she sustained injuries during her capture. The US Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, stated that the United States arrested a "narco-trafficker" who would face trial in the United States. The operation has prompted discussion regarding its adherence to international law, with the US defending it by asserting that Maduro and Flores had violated domestic law.
Background of Cilia Flores
Cilia Flores, born in 1956 in north-western Venezuela, pursued legal studies and became a lawyer. Her political involvement began in the early 1990s after social unrest in Caracas, when she offered legal services to a group of revolutionaries, including Hugo Chavez, then imprisoned following two failed coup attempts in 1992. She assisted in securing his release in 1994, during which time she met Nicolás Maduro, a member of Chavez's inner circle.
Flores served on Chavez's campaign committee and, following his election to the presidency in 1998, was elected to the National Assembly in 2000. She became the first woman to hold the position of National Assembly president in 2006, a role she occupied for six years and was later succeeded in by Nicolás Maduro. In 2011, Chavez appointed Flores as Attorney General. After Chavez's death in 2013, Flores publicly supported Maduro's presidential bid, which he won. The couple married the same year they moved into the Miraflores Palace. Maduro has referred to Flores as the "first combatant" or "First Warrior," aligning with Chavism ideology. She has been identified by some as a key adviser to Maduro and hosted the television show Con Cilia en Familia.
Allegations and Indictments
The US Department of Justice, under the Trump administration, initiated its case against Maduro in March 2020, with an updated indictment that recently included Flores and listed alleged crimes against her. Washington has accused Maduro and individuals within his close circle of illicitly acquiring billions of dollars from Venezuela. In 2017, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Maduro, Flores, and other members of his inner circle.
According to the Justice Department's indictment, unsealed recently, Venezuela has served a role in facilitating the transport of cocaine since approximately 1999, becoming what the indictment describes as a "safe haven" for drug traffickers. The indictment alleges that maritime shipments used "go-fast vessels, fishing boats, and container ships" from Venezuela's coastline, while air shipments departed from "clandestine airstrips" or "commercial airports under the control of corrupt government and military officials." The US State Department estimated that by 2020, between 200 and 250 tons of cocaine were trafficked annually through Venezuela.
Ray Donovan, a former chief of operations for the US Drug Enforcement Administration, stated that the Maduro administration allegedly collaborated with Colombian guerrilla groups involved in cocaine manufacturing. Donovan indicated that cocaine was produced, smuggled through Venezuela, and then shipped from its northern coast to destinations including the Dominican Republic, before reaching the US, European countries, or West Africa. He also noted that Venezuelan aircraft allegedly transported drugs to Central American countries such as Honduras and Guatemala, destined for Mexico and the US. The indictment does not mention fentanyl, but Donovan alleged that the Venezuelan government worked with Mexican cartels that did produce the drug.
The 25-page indictment alleges that Maduro, his wife, his son, and three other individuals "engaged in a relentless campaign of cocaine trafficking," providing "law enforcement cover and logistical support" for cocaine transport through Venezuela, resulting in the "distribution of thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States." It claims the defendants "partnered with some of the most violent and prolific drug traffickers and narco-terrorists in the world," including Colombia's FARC and ELN, Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel and Zetas, and Tren de Aragua in Venezuela. The indictment further states that Maduro "participates in, perpetuates, and protects a culture of corruption in which powerful Venezuelan elites enrich themselves through drug trafficking and the protection of their partner drug traffickers," referring to this patronage system as the "Cartel de Los Soles" or "Cartel of the Suns."
Specific allegations against Maduro and Flores include:
- While Venezuela's minister of foreign affairs, Maduro allegedly sold Venezuelan diplomatic passports to drug traffickers and facilitated diplomatic cover for planes used by money launderers to repatriate drug proceeds.
- For over a decade until 2015, Maduro and Flores allegedly collaborated to traffic cocaine, much of which had previously been seized by Venezuelan law enforcement, with military assistance.
- The couple allegedly maintained "state-sponsored gangs known as colectivos" to facilitate and protect this trafficking operation, and ordered "kidnappings, beatings, and murders against those who owed them drug money or otherwise undermined their drug trafficking operation," including an alleged local drug boss in Caracas.
Allegations solely against Ms. Flores include accepting "hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes" in 2007 to arrange a meeting between an alleged "large-scale drug trafficker" and Nestor Reverol Torres, then director of Venezuela's National Anti-Drug Office. It is alleged that the drug trafficker subsequently agreed to pay a monthly bribe to the anti-drug office director and approximately $US100,000 for each cocaine-carrying flight to ensure safe passage, with some of these funds reportedly going to Flores.
During her tenure in the National Assembly, Flores faced criticism regarding the appointments of family members and associates to public positions. She denied these allegations, stating her pride in her family members and accusing journalists of attempted blackmail, and subsequently supported restricting press access to the chamber, allowing only state-owned media.
The 'Narco Nephews' Case
The unsealed indictment references an investigation known as the "narco nephews" case, detailing new allegations against Flores. In November 2015, two of Flores's nephews, Francisco Flores de Freitas and Efrain Antonio Campo Flores, were arrested in Haiti by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). They were reportedly recorded in 2015 during meetings with confidential US government sources, agreeing to send "multi-hundred-kilogram cocaine shipments" from Maduro's "presidential hanger" at a Venezuelan airport. The nephews reportedly stated during these meetings that they were at 'war' with the United States. Both nephews were sentenced in 2017 to 18 years in prison for conspiring to send cocaine into the US. They were released in 2022 as part of a prisoner exchange for seven imprisoned Americans, a move Flores stated was a "kidnapping" by US authorities.
Next Steps
The case involving Maduro and Flores is scheduled to return to court on March 17. The indictment also names Diosdado Cabello Rondón and Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, current and former members of Maduro's government, and Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, the alleged leader of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Former DEA chief Ray Donovan indicated that other co-conspirators still at large in Venezuela, including Maduro's son, would be a priority for US authorities, as would targeting Mexican drug traffickers.