The defense of Cilia Flores submitted a formal request for house arrest on Wednesday before federal judge Alvin K. Hellerstein in New York, arguing that their client's health condition has severely deteriorated since her admission to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where she has been held since January 3.
According to CNN, attorneys Mark E. Donnelly and Andrés Sánchez based their petition on three pillars: a preexisting heart condition that worsened in prison, documented general physical deterioration, and arguments for international immunity.
The heart of the matter: cardiac health
Before his capture, Flores suffered from a prolapsed mitral valve and received monthly treatment with injections that he has not been able to continue in prison. Instead, the prison medical team prescribed him children's aspirin, a statin, diltiazem, and nitroglycerin to manage episodes of chest pain.
The most critical point of the document is an incident that occurred on July 29: Flores suffered intense chest pressure that lasted thirty minutes, and external medical consultants do not rule out that it may have been a mild heart attack, although there is no official medical confirmation regarding this.
"Without conducting an additional echocardiogram to compare cardiac function with previous tests, it is unclear the extent of any coronary damage that may have occurred," the lawyers warned in the court document.
The doctors also recommended performing a cardiac catheterization, which could lead to additional, more invasive procedures. The defense argues that a federal prison does not provide the necessary conditions for recovery from such an intervention.
Documented physical deterioration
Beyond the heart, the writing details a picture of widespread deterioration: Flores has lost more than 11 kilograms since January, has lost two molars, suffers from persistent reflux and gastritis, occasional tachycardia, difficulty breathing, and dizziness. She sleeps only three or four hours a day, sharing space with more than forty inmates.
The defense also revealed that during the first three months of her confinement, Flores was held in solitary confinement, a period in which "she was unable to communicate effectively with anyone, except for her lawyers."
The alternative proposal and the argument of immunity
As a solution, the lawyers propose relocating her to a private residence within the Manhattan judicial district under armed surveillance 24 hours a day, GPS monitoring, restricted visits, intercepted phone calls, and unannounced inspections. Flores also offered to cover the costs of the relocation and to surrender her passport.
The document also includes arguments for international immunity, in line with the strategy adopted by Maduro's defense, which days earlier requested Judge Hellerstein to dismiss the charges altogether, citing sovereign immunity.
The U.S. government opposed the request for house arrest. The federal prosecutor's office in Manhattan has not yet submitted a formal written response, and the judge has not yet ruled on the request.
Meanwhile, Judge Hellerstein ordered to seal the medical records of Flores submitted as supporting evidence for the request, noting that "the courts in this circuit regularly authorize the submission of medical records under seal."
Flores, 69 years old, and Maduro, 63, face charges of drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption, and conspiracy to import cocaine into U.S. territory, to which both pleaded not guilty. A hearing to discuss the motions to dismiss is scheduled for November 17, while the trial is set to begin on June 1, 2027.
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