The judicial crackdown on chavismo is tightening. The new accusation presented by the Southern District of New York's Prosecutor's Office against Nicolás Maduro extends the scope of the investigation to the closest inner circle of the regime: Diosdado Cabello, the historic “number two” of chavismo and one of the most powerful men in Venezuela, and Nicolás Ernesto Maduro Guerra, known as “Nicolasito,” son of the ousted leader.
Both are reported to have participated in a network of drug trafficking, corruption, and money laundering that allegedly operated for years with the support of high-ranking military and civilian officials, according to reports from the agency EFE.
Cabello, 62 years old, has been vice president of Hugo Chávez, Minister of the Interior, President of the National Constituent Assembly, and a key figure of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
For more than a decade, U.S. agencies have linked him to the so-called “Cártel de los Soles,” an organization made up of Venezuelan Army officials who are said to have trafficked tons of cocaine into the United States.
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned him in 2018 for corruption and drug trafficking, and in 2020 he was formally charged with narco-terrorism alongside Maduro.
In 2025, Washington raised the reward for his capture to 25 million dollars, solidifying his status as one of the most wanted fugitives on the continent. Cabello, for his part, has denied the accusations, describing them as "imperial attacks" against the Bolivarian revolution.
The inclusion of "Nicolasito" Maduro Guerra, 33 years old, marks a new level in the judicial offensive. Although he had previously held symbolic positions within the regime—such as constituent deputy and head of the Presidential Inspection Corps—his name now appears for the first time in an international case.
The prosecutors accuse him of participating in money laundering operations and protecting drug trafficking structures associated with high-ranking Chavista officials.
The judicial blow also affects the circle of Cilia Flores, Maduro's wife. Two of her nephews, Efraín Antonio Campo Flores and Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas, were sentenced in New York in 2017 to 18 years in prison for attempting to traffic 800 kilograms of cocaine to the United States, using their relationship with the presidential couple to facilitate the shipments.
With these allegations, Washington places the inner circle of Maduro under scrutiny, reinforcing its thesis that Chavismo operated as a "narcostate" for over a decade.
The fall of Maduro and the new accusations mark a point of no return: the end of the myth of impunity that protected the Venezuelan dictatorial elite, now faced with U.S. justice.
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