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US captures Maduro, his wife: What are charges against Venezuela president Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores?
Cilia Flores is charged alongside Maduro, their son and three other alleged co-conspirators.
Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are facing multiple criminal charges in the United States following an overnight US military operation that captured the Venezuelan president and removed him from the country. The President Donald Trump-led United States administration on Saturday captured Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores after a lightning military strike that hit country's capital Caracas as well as other areas as part of its crackdown on “narco-terrorism”.
US authorities allege that Maduro, Flores and other senior figures transformed Venezuela into a ''criminal enterprise'' that worked directly with international drug trafficking organisations, including Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and the Tren de Aragua gang, to flood the United States with cocaine, news agency AP reported.
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Maduro and Flores were taken into US custody after being seized at their residence within the Fort Tiuna military complex outside Caracas. They were initially transferred to a US Navy ship before being flown to New York on Saturday afternoon.
The charges against Maduro
According to the indictment, Maduro faces four criminal counts:
- Narco-terrorism conspiracy, alleging he partnered with violent drug cartels to traffic cocaine as a weapon against the United States
- Cocaine importation conspiracy, involving large-scale shipments destined for US territory
- Possession of machine guns and destructive devices
- Conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices
Authorities allege powerful and violent drug trafficking organisations, such as the Sinaloa Cartel and Tren de Aragua gang, worked directly with the Venezuelan government and then sent profits to high-ranking officials who helped and protected them in exchange, AP reported.
Allegations against Cilia Flores
Cilia Flores, Venezuela’s first lady and a former senior government official, is accused of participating in and benefiting from the same criminal conspiracy.
US officials claim Flores helped facilitate contacts between traffickers and senior members of the Venezuelan government, while receiving financial rewards derived from drug trafficking profits.
She is charged alongside Maduro, their son and three other alleged co-conspirators.
US clarification
The arrests followed months of escalating US pressure on Venezuela, including an expanded naval presence in the region and targeted operations against alleged drug-smuggling routes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
President Donald Trump said the US intervention was necessary to dismantle what he described as a “narco-state” and to bring Maduro to justice. The administration maintains that Maduro is not Venezuela’s legitimate leader and argues that his government operates as a criminal organisation aligned with transnational gangs.
Trump has said the United States will temporarily oversee Venezuela during a transition period, though officials have offered few details about how this would function in practice or what authority Washington would claim to administer the country.
(With inputs from AP)
