Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Indicted on Drug, Weapons Charges

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted on drug and weapons charges following their overnight capture by the United States military.

As you know, President Donald Trump said Saturday the pair was taken by U.S. troops and is currently on a warship en route to New York to face charges, which can carry a hefty prison sentence if found guilty.

The commander-in-chief also shared a photo of him in custody on the USS Iwo Jima looking quite comfy in a matching sweatsuit and a bottle of water in his hand.

In the indictment unsealed Saturday, Maduro and his co-conspirators have been charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machineguns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machineguns and destructive devices.

The charges are the same as in a 2020 indictment against Maduro. The 2020 version named 5 defendants, while the new one names 6 — including Maduro’s wife and son, Nicolás Ernesto Maduro Guerra. The minister of the interior, Diosdado Cabello Rondon, is named in both as well, while 2 new defendants were added in the new document. 3 people listed on 2020’s indictment were dropped.

Trump had pressured Maduro and his government to clean up their act for months before he launched several military strikes and took Maduro and his wife captive. He has long accused Maduro of funneling drugs and gang members designated as terrorist organizations into America.

In the indictment, Maduro and his co-conspirators are accused of using his “illegally obtained authority and the institutions he corroded to transport thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States” and tarnishing “every public office he has held.” He specifically accused Maduro and Flores of organizing their “own groups of state-sponsored gangs known as ‘colectivos’ to facilitate and protect their drug trafficking operation.”