Venezuela’s First Lady, Cilia Flores, and President Nicolás Maduro were indicted Saturday on narco-terrorism charges in New York, following reported raids by U.S. forces in Caracas. The indictments mark a notable escalation of U.S. pressure on the embattled Maduro regime, already facing international condemnation for its human rights record and economic mismanagement. Flores, a long-time powerbroker within the ruling socialist party, and Maduro now face potential extradition and prosecution on federal criminal charges.
Venezuela:
Cilia Flores, Venezuela’s First Lady for over a decade, has been indicted on narco-terrorism charges alongside her husband, President Nicolás Maduro.
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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, First Lady Cilia Flores, were apprehended early Saturday morning following raids by U.S. forces targeting multiple military locations in Venezuela, including the capital, Caracas. The pair have now been indicted in New York on charges including narco-terrorism.
Flores has served as Venezuela’s First Lady for more than a decade and is known within the socialist “Chavismo” movement as the “first combatant.” She has been Maduro’s partner for over 30 years.
According to CNN, Flores is considered one of the most powerful women in the country.
“She built up extraordinary influence over decades, while largely operating in the shadows,” The New York Times reports.
From Working Class Roots to Political Power
Born in 1956 in Tinaquillo, a central Venezuelan town, Flores grew up in a working-class neighborhood.
A trained lawyer, she began her ascent in politics during the 1990s, becoming closely aligned with Hugo Chávez – Maduro’s mentor and predecessor – while he was imprisoned following a failed coup attempt in 1992. She steadily rose through the ranks within Chávez’s Chavismo movement, becoming a key figure in Venezuela’s legislative assembly.
– Within Chavismo, she commands both respect and fear,” Venezuelan investigative journalist Roberto Deniz told Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia in 2013.
An official account from the White House published late Saturday a video of the Venezuelan leader being led away in handcuffs. Video: Rapid Response 47 / X
Flores supported Chávez throughout his initial election campaign and the following 14 years in office, holding positions as a deputy, president of the legislative power, attorney general, and as one of the founders of Venezuela’s United Socialist Party.
A Complex Family
Flores and Maduro have been partners since the late 1990s, when both were elected officials. They married in 2013, the same year Maduro became president.
Maduro and Flores have a blended family, as both had children from previous relationships, but no biological children together. Flores has three sons from a previous marriage, and Maduro has one son.
Maduro’s son, Nicolás Maduro Guerra, has held government positions under his father.
One of Norway’s leading experts on Latin American politics, Professor Benedicte Bull, believes that Flores has not played a central role in influencing Maduro’s policies.
– They are not like Bill and Hillary. She has aligned herself with him in politics,” she said.
Benedicte
Bull
Professor at the Centre for Global Sustainability at UiO
Bull says Flores is no more popular than her husband.
– They have tried to increase her popularity, including with dolls where Maduro was Superman and she was Superwoman, which was ridiculed and hated,” she says.
Architect of Maduro’s Survival
Following Chávez’s death, she was largely seen as crucial in consolidating and maintaining Maduro’s grip on power, by providing a loyal political base and deep influence within institutions.
Not everyone shares Bull’s view of Flores’s role in politics, with some believing she has wielded significant power behind the scenes.
“Even though Flores ceased to hold formal government positions after 2013, she retained enormous power behind the scenes. She is often described as a central architect of Maduro’s political survival,” the NYT writes.
According to journalists, analysts, and former officials, Flores shaped a judicial system where almost all important decisions went through her. She placed relatives and loyal supporters in state institutions.
At the same time, her family amassed enormous, unexplained wealth, CNN reports.
