Who are Nicolás Maduro’s stepsons? What we know about Walter, Yosser and Yoswal

US military has captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores, drawing attention to their family's involvement in corruption allegations.

The US operation in Venezuela has led to the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. President Donald Trump said both Maduro and Flores were detained by US military forces in Caracas. The latest events have brought attention to the Venezuelan leader’s family.

While Maduro and Flores have no children together, both brought children from previous marriages. (REUTERS)

The capture comes amid long-standing US allegations of corruption and financial misconduct against the couple. Flores and Maduro have been central figures in Venezuela’s Chavista political movement for decades.

While Maduro and Flores have no children together, both brought children from previous marriages. These family members have occasionally appeared in US investigations.

Maduro’s stepsons

Cilia Flores, 69, was previously married to Walter Ramón Gavidia Rodríguez. From that marriage, she has three sons, who became Nicolás Maduro’s stepsons after Flores and Maduro married in 2013.

Maduro's stepsons are Walter Jacob Gavidia Flores, Yosser Daniel Gavidia Flores, and Yoswal Alexander Gavidia Flores.

According to NY1, the three sons range in age from 28 to 39. Two of them, Yosser and Yoswal, have largely maintained low public profiles and have not held public office, while the eldest, Walter, briefly led a government-funded social assistance foundation in 2014 and was replaced 18 months later.

Flores also has an adopted son, her nephew, who was raised in her household and later convicted in the “narcosobrinos” drug-trafficking case in the United States, as per the Department of Justice.

Family and political context

Maduro and Flores met in the 1990s within Hugo Chávez’s inner political circle. Flores, a lawyer, defended Chávez after a failed 1992 coup attempt, and Maduro was a rising union leader at the time. The couple married in 2013, shortly after Maduro became president, reported Hola.

Maduro has one biological son, Nicolás Ernesto Maduro Guerra, from his first marriage. Maduro Guerra has held leadership positions in the National Assembly and has been sanctioned by the US Treasury, per New York Post.

US prosecutors have reportedly examined connections between Maduro’s extended family and financial schemes involving Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA. NY1 reported that a Miami federal case involving a Swiss banker refers to Flores’s three sons, codenamed “Los Chamos”, in connection with money-laundering activities.

Neither Maduro nor his stepsons were formally named in the official filings.

There is no publicly available information regarding the stepsons’ current activities or whereabouts.

Venezuelan authorities have not issued statements about them following the US operation.