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The ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro could face the death penalty in the United States if found guilty of the charges of drug trafficking and narcoterrorism against him, as reported this Monday by the New York Post.
Maduro, captured on January 3 during a U.S. military operation in Caracas, is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he awaits being brought before a federal court in New York.
According to the Controlled Substances Act, a defendant can be sentenced to death if it is proven that they were leading a "continuing criminal enterprise" linked to drug trafficking.
Although executions for drug offenses are unusual in federal justice, the legal possibility exists, especially when the offenses are linked to armed organizations or international terrorism.
The U.S. Attorney General, Pam Bondi, stated that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, “will face the full force of U.S. justice,” without specifying what kind of sentence the Department of Justice will seek.
The accusation includes four charges: conspiracy to commit narcoterrorism, cocaine importation, and two charges of possession of machine guns. The new indictment expands the case opened in 2020, when a federal court had already identified Maduro as the head of the Cartel of the Suns, a structure that allegedly used the Venezuelan state apparatus to traffic tons of drugs into the United States.
The case, when compared to that of Manuel Noriega in 1989, sets a precedent in Washington's foreign policy towards Latin America. If the conviction is confirmed, it could usher in a new judicial phase where the death penalty, although infrequent, would be regarded as a deterrent message.
Maduro will be presented before the judge this Monday at noon.
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