The Justice Department has indicted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, for a series of offenses.
The most serious allegations involve Maduro’s alleged involvement in narco-terrorism. They are also facing two counts for possessing machine guns.
The indictment accuses Maduro and Flores, along with their closest allies, of turning Venezuela into a “cocaine-fueled” criminal enterprise working closely with major terrorist and cartel organizations to send “thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States.”
Prosecutors claim that “for over 25 years, leaders of Venezuela have abused their positions of public trust and corrupted once-legitimate institutions to import tons of cocaine into the United States” and that Maduro “now sits atop a corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking.”
Multiple videos show intense US airstrikes blasting Caracas; explosions lighting up the sky, civilian neighborhoods under fire, people fleeing in panic.
— Sanataniwithsign (@HarshadKushwah) January 3, 2026
Maduro was abducted in a covert raid. This brutal invasion isn't about "democracy." It's a naked grab for Venezuela's massive… pic.twitter.com/AL7d6A8Gjw
The government’s theory is that Maduro and his senior officials were part of the Cartel de los Soles, a network of military, political, and intelligence figures. This group trade state resources, and even weapons with narco-terrorist groups like the FARC, ELN, Sinaloa Cartel, the Zetas/CDN, and Tren de Aragua in exchange for money and political support.
The Venezuelan leader used each office he held to aid cocaine traffickers, starting when, “as a member of Venezuela’s National Assembly,” he “moved loads of cocaine under the protection of Venezuelan law enforcement,” according to the indictment.
As foreign minister, he allegedly “provided Venezuelan diplomatic passports to drug traffickers and facilitated diplomatic cover for planes used by money launderers to repatriate drug proceeds from Mexico to Venezuela,” the indictment alleges.
As president, Maduro allegedly allowed “cocaine-fueled corruption to flourish for his own benefit, for the benefit of members of his ruling regime, and for the benefit of his family members.”
You see a lot claims that Venezuela has nothing to do with drugs because most of the fentanyl comes from elsewhere. I want to address this:
— JD Vance (@JDVance) January 4, 2026
First off, fentanyl isn't the only drug in the world and there is still fentanyl coming from Venezuela (or at least there was).
Second,…
Maduro is accused of working with extremist groups to transport multi-ton shipments by sea and air through the country and to places like Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. “Between 200 and 250 tons of cocaine were trafficked through Venezuela annually,’ by 2020, according to the document.
Prosecutors allege that Flores was personally involved in the criminal operation. She allegedly attended a meeting where she accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to set up a meeting between a large-scale drug trafficker and the director of Venezuela’s National Anti-Drug Office.
The trafficker paid about “$100,000 for each flight that was transporting cocaine,” along with a monthly fee. A portion of the earnings went to Flores, the indictment claims.
To convict Maduro, prosecutors will have to prove that Maduro and Flores intentionally participated in agreements to distribute large quantities of cocaine, knowing that they would be transported to the United States. Even further, they will have to show that they provided “something of pecuniary value” to designated terrorist organizations.
If convicted on the narco-terrorism and firearms charges, the couple could face sentences up ot life imprisonment.
Both Maduro and his wife pleaded not guilty to the charges on Monday.