What Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro is charged with : NPR

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Alfredo Lasry R/Getty Photographs Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro and his spouse, Cilia Flores, face a raft of prices in america following President Trump's announcement early Saturday that the U.S. attacked Caracas and took them into custody.

Maduro, Flores and senior Venezuelan officers face prices associated to alleged "drug trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracies," in keeping with an unsealed indictment posted on social media Saturday by U.S. Legal professional Basic Pam Bondi.

The indictment alleges that, beginning in 1999, the defendants partnered with worldwide drug trafficking organizations to in the end transport 1000's of tons of cocaine into america.

Maduro and his spouse "will quickly face the complete wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts," Bondi wrote in an earlier put up on X.

Nicolas Maduro and his spouse, Cilia Flores, have been indicted within the Southern District of New York. Nicolas Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Damaging Gadgets, and Conspiracy to Possess…

— Legal professional Basic Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) January 3, 2026

The brand new indictment provides to prices from the primary Trump administration, when the U.S. Justice Division introduced a federal indictment towards Maduro in March 2020.

That indictment alleged that Maduro was the chief of the Cartel de los Soles, and that he and different defendants took half in a narco-terrorism conspiracy with the Colombian guerrilla group often known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Prosecutors mentioned that the Cartel de los Soles was made up of high-ranking Venezuelan officers who abused the Venezuelan folks and corrupted the nation's establishments to import massive portions of cocaine into america.

In response to the 2020 indictment, Maduro helped handle and in the end lead the Cartel de los Soles, which sought to get wealthy and flood the U.S. with cocaine, allegedly utilizing the drug as a weapon towards america.

Prosecutors mentioned that Maduro helped negotiate multi-ton shipments of cocaine, and directed the Cartel de los Soles to offer military-grade weapons to FARC.

He additionally allegedly coordinated overseas affairs with Honduras and others to facilitate large-scale drug trafficking.

The present Trump administration has ramped up the stress over the previous 12 months. In November 2025, the U.S. designated the Cartel de los Soles as a overseas terrorist group.

The brand new indictment launched Saturday reiterates these prices and in addition alleges that Maduro "partnered" with organizations together with the Sinaloa Cartel, the Zetas and Tren de Aragua.

Individually, the Worldwide Legal Court docket has been investigating the Venezuelan authorities for alleged torture, sexual violence and arbitrary detentions.