Cilia Flores detained with Nicolás Maduro, brought to U.S. to await trial

Time reports that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, First Lady Cilia Flores, were detained during a U.S. special forces raid in his native homeland and have been brought to the United States to await trial on narco-terrorism charges; the couple pleaded "not guilty" at their first U.S.

court appearance on Monday. Flores has decades of experience in Venezuelan politics: she represented Hugo Chávez and other 1992 coup participants as an attorney and helped secure their release and pardon in 1994, served in the National Assembly from 2000 and led it from 2006 to 2011, and became Attorney General in 2012.

She hosted a 2015 TV show, Con Cilia en Familia, and has been described by Maduro as his "first combatant." Flores has also been reported to have built influence within judicial circles and the National Electoral Council, and faced a 2008 nepotism accusation after reportedly hiring at least 40 relatives to work in the National Assembly; she defended her family as having entered "based on their own merits." Relatives of Flores have faced U.S.

Key Topics

World, Cilia Flores, Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, Drug Enforcement Agency