Maduro and Wife Face Sweeping U.S. Charges After Dramatic Capture

Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are facing a wide range of criminal charges in the United States following their capture and transfer to New York, U.S. officials confirmed Saturday.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that a superseding indictment filed in the Southern District of New York accuses Maduro, Flores and key members of his inner circle of operating a decades-long narco-terrorism and drug trafficking enterprise. The indictment alleges that Venezuelan leaders abused state power to facilitate the large-scale importation of cocaine into the United States.

According to prosecutors, Maduro used his positions as foreign minister and later president to provide diplomatic passports and protection to drug traffickers and to shield aircraft used to launder drug profits. The document claims that cocaine-fueled corruption enriched Maduro, his family and his ruling regime.

The charges include narco-terrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess such weapons. Flores, Maduro’s son Nicolás Ernesto Maduro Guerra, and alleged Tren de Aragua cartel leader Héctor “Niño Guerrero” Rusthenford are named in multiple counts.

The indictment builds on a 2020 case in which the U.S. accused Maduro and other officials of working with FARC rebels to move hundreds of tons of cocaine annually through the Caribbean and Central America. U.S. officials previously offered rewards of up to $50 million for information leading to Maduro’s capture.

Bondi said the arrests mark a turning point. “They will soon face the full force of American justice on American soil,” she said, crediting President Donald Trump and U.S. military forces for carrying out the operation.

The arrests followed violent unrest in Caracas, where attacks were reported in several neighborhoods before Maduro and Flores were detained.