Nicolás Maduro, the ousted Venezuelan leader indicted on major U.S. drug-trafficking and weapons charges, is scheduled to appear in federal court in New York on Monday for arraignment.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro gestures next to his wife Cilia Flores as they leave the Capitolio, home of the National Assembly, after taking the oath during the presidential inauguration in Caracas on Jan. 10, 2025. (Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images)
His wife, Cilia Flores, who was also arrested in the raid, is due in court the same day. Maduro faces four counts: narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
Prosecutors say Venezuela’s leadership spent decades abusing power to move tons of cocaine into the United States. Flores faces three related charges, including cocaine importation conspiracy and weapons offenses.
President Donald Trump shared a photo of captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro aboard the USS Iwo Jima after strikes on Venezuela, on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (Donald Trump via Truth Social)
The arraignment is expected to be brief. The judge will formally read the charges, take pleas, set the next court date, and address pretrial detention.
Legal experts say bail is almost certainly off the table, citing the precedent of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who was also denied release after being captured by U.S. forces. Maduro and Flores were seized last week in a U.S. special operations raid in Caracas and flown out of the country.
Maduro is currently being held at a federal detention facility in Brooklyn. Maduro was first indicted in 2020 and was the target of a $50 million U.S. bounty. His transfer to New York’s Southern District Court places the case in one of the country’s most prominent federal jurisdictions.
