The U.S. Department of Justice announced this Saturday the formal charges against Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, for narcoterrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, and possession of military-grade weapons, following their capture in a military operation led by the elite Delta Force unit.
The U.S. Attorney General, Pamela Bondi, confirmed in a statement that both have been charged in the Southern District of New York and will be transferred to face trial on U.S. soil.
"Maduro and his wife have been accused of conspiring to traffic cocaine into the United States and using automatic weapons and explosives for terrorist purposes," Bondi explained on his X account.
"Very soon they will face the full weight of American justice, on American soil and in American courts," the prosecutor stated.
Bondi thanked President Donald Trump for "having the courage to demand accountability on behalf of the American people" and praised the military forces that carried out the "successful mission" of capturing the Venezuelan couple.
The military operation, as confirmed by sources from the Pentagon and reporters from CBS News, was carried out by Delta Force, the same unit that eliminated the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in 2019.
U.S. forces stormed into Venezuelan territory during the early hours of Saturday, amidst explosions reported in Caracas, Miranda, Aragua, and La Guaira.
In Venezuela, the government of Delcy Rodríguez has denounced an "unprecedented imperialist aggression" and claims to be unaware of the whereabouts of Maduro and Flores.
On his part, Diosdado Cabello called for calm and urged confidence in the political-military high command, while power outages and the presence of troops in key areas of the capital continue.
The federal indictment in New York marks a historic step in U.S. politics concerning Venezuela. If the judicial proceedings are confirmed, it would be the first time a sitting Latin American president faces narcoterrorism charges in a United States court.
The case is reminiscent of the Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who was captured by the U.S. in 1989 and tried in Miami for drug trafficking, although this time it would be the first trial on charges of narcoterrorism against a Latin American leader.
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