Nicolás Maduro Guerra, known as "Nicolasito," publicly defended his father this Wednesday following the third hearing in the case at a federal court in New York, calling the process "unjust" through his Instagram account.
The statement from the chavista deputy came on the same day that the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York held a hearing that lasted only 18 minutes, during which the judge preliminarily set the start of the oral trial for June 2027.
"In the face of the unjust trial taking place today, the people raised their voices with a single demand: We demand the immediate release of President Nicolás Maduro and the First Combatant!" wrote Maduro Guerra on his Instagram profile.
What the deputy omitted in his message is that he himself is listed as a co-defendant in that same federal case.
The Southern District Attorney's Office in New York included him in the indictment in January 2026, accusing him of allegedly coordinating drug shipments with dissidents of the FARC and using planes from the state oil company PDVSA for illegal cargo.
Despite the charges against him, Maduro Guerra continues to serve as a deputy in the National Assembly of Venezuela for the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
The deputy also attended a gathering of Chavista militants in a square in Caracas called to support those accused. The event was also attended by the Vice President of Mobilizations and Events of the PSUV, Nahum Fernández, and the mayor of Caracas, Admiral Carmen Meléndez.
The former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were captured in Caracas on January 3, 2026, by U.S. troops and transported to New York. Maduro faces charges of conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism and cocaine importation, with penalties that could lead to life imprisonment.
Flores is accused of drug trafficking and weapons possession charges. Both pleaded not guilty before the judge on January 5th.
The hearing this Wednesday, which had been postponed from June 30 for security and logistical reasons, primarily served to establish the procedural calendar.
The lead defense attorney, Barry Pollack —who also represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange—, indicated that in November 2026 they will request immunity for the defendants, arguing that Maduro was acting as head of state and Flores as first lady at the time of their arrest.
This is not the first time that Maduro Guerra has questioned the process. In March 2026, during the second hearing of the case, he had already described the trial as "political" in an interview with the Russian channel RT, claiming that "there is nothing" to prove any crimes against his father.
The acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, who assumed power after Maduro's capture, made no statement regarding the hearing this Wednesday.
If the defense fails to convince the judge to accept the immunity argument, the trial against Maduro and Flores would be set for June 2027, making it one of the most significant criminal proceedings against a former Latin American head of state in recent U.S. history.
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