The federal judge Alvin Hellerstein, in charge of the case against Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores in the Southern District of New York, ordered on Thursday to seal Flores' medical records after her defense submitted a supplementary request to protect that information.
The measure responds to the fact that the request for house arrest filed Wednesday before the federal court in Manhattan included Flores' personal medical records "unsealed and without redactions," as acknowledged by the magistrate in his ruling.
Hellerstein justified the order with a privacy argument: "The courts in this circuit regularly allow the submission of medical records under seal, considering that the parties have a strong interest in the privacy of their medical information."
The judge concluded that "Flores's interest in protecting the privacy of his personal medical records outweighs the presumption of public access regarding this request."
With that decision, the health issues cited by the defense to justify the change in prison regime are no longer subject to public scrutiny.
The defense of Flores, 69 years old, argued in her request for house arrest that the detainee suffers from serious heart conditions— including chest pain, arrhythmias, tachycardia, difficulty breathing, and dizziness— and that the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center, where she is being held, does not meet the necessary conditions for her treatment.
According to previously released information, a stress test conducted in April was interrupted due to chest pain and shortness of breath, and external specialists consulted by the defense believe that Flores may have suffered a mild heart attack, although this diagnosis has not been officially confirmed.
The lawyers also pointed out that their client has lost more than 11 kilograms during the lockdown.
To ensure custody outside of prison, the defense proposed strict conditions: armed surveillance 24 hours a day provided by Guidepost Solutions, GPS monitoring, video surveillance, restricted visits, call recording, and the surrender of all travel documents, including the passport.
The costs of transportation and security would be the responsibility of Flores herself.
Flores was arrested in Caracas along with Maduro on January 3, 2026 by U.S. forces and transported to New York, where both face charges of conspiracy for narcoterrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess weapons of war.
Both defenses have requested the dismissal of the case, citing sovereign immunity, arguing that Maduro was the head of state at the time of the arrest and that Flores shares that protection as his spouse.
The house arrest request from Flores is the latest escalation in a strategy that the defense has been developing since March 2026, when the lawyer Mark Donnelly informed Judge Hellerstein about a mitral valve prolapse and obtained authorization to perform an electrocardiogram.
The trial is scheduled for June 1, 2027, with a hearing on the motions for dismissal based on sovereign immunity set for November 17, 2026.
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