Justice Department Unseals Superseding Indictment in Maduro Case

On Jan. 3, the Justice Department unsealed a superseding indictment against ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, his wife Cilia Flores, and four other Venezuelan nationals in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The indictment was released the same day that Maduro was captured by U.S. special forces in Caracas.

The indictment, which includes multiple charges related to cocaine trafficking and illegal weapons possession, revises an earlier superseding indictment unsealed in 2020. 

Sections 1-4 of the indictment lay out a pattern of alleged crimes by Maduro and the other five defendants, including facilitating drug trafficking, fostering and benefiting from drug-related corruption, and partnering with narco-terrorist groups across Latin America. They also characterize the administration Maduro heads as a “corrupt, illegitimate government.”

Sections 5-10 identify the defendants: Maduro; Flores; Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace (IJP) Diosdado Cabello Rondón; politician and former IJP Minister Ramón Rodríguez Chacín; Nicolás Maduro Guerra, or “Nicolasito,” a Venezuelan politician and the son of President Maduro; and Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, or “Niño Guerrero,” the alleged leader of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) criminal organization. Sections 11-15 identify the narco-terrorist organizations with which the defendants are accused of partnering, which include TdA, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), and the Mexico-based Sinaloa Cartel.

Sections 16-20 provide a brief background to the drug trafficking networks through which defendants are accused of operating. Section 21 recounts the “overt acts” the defendants are alleged to have committed as part of drug trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracies. 

 The first count against Maduro alleges that he and two other defendants distributed—and possessed with intent to distribute—large amounts of cocaine with the intent to provide pecuniary value to a terrorist organization, in violation of 21 U.S.Code § 960a. Count Two alleges that all six defendants conspired to and did import a controlled substance—cocaine—to the U.S., including on U.S.-registered aircraft, in violation of multiple sections of U.S. Code Title 21. Count Three alleges that all six defendants used and carried machine guns in furtherance of drug trafficking crimes prosecutable in U.S. courts, in violation of 18 U.S. Code § 924(c)(l)(A) and 924(c)(l)(B)(ii). Count Four alleges that all defendants also conspired to possess machine guns in furtherance of their drug trafficking crimes, again in violation of 18 U.S. Code § 924(c)(l)(A) and 924(c)(l)(B)(ii).

The indictment concludes with four sections—36 through 39—explaining that defendants must forfeit to the United States all property constituting, derived from, or intended to be used in furtherance of the criminal offenses described in the four charges.

You can read the indictment here or below.