Maduro and wife to be arraigned Monday
Deposted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, attend a campaign rally in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 25, 2024. Credit: AP/Fernando Vergara
Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are scheduled to be transported on Monday morning from the Brooklyn federal detention center where they are being held to Manhattan federal court to face drug trafficking and weapons charges.
The couple is expected to be arraigned on charges that they worked closely with narco-terrorist groups in Colombia and Mexico to keep their grip on political power through force and intimidation, while shipping large quantities of cocaine to Mexico, France and the United States from 1999 to 2025.
Maduro faces one count of narco-terrorism conspiracy, charging that he and others in his government worked with violent cocaine smuggling groups like the Sinaloa Cartel, FARC and Tren de Aragua to enrich himself with the proceeds of their drug operations, according to the indictment.
Maduro and his wife face three additional counts of cocaine smuggling and weapons charges.
They will be arraigned before District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein around noon in the lower Manhattan courthouse.
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