Maduro’s jailed wife seeks release over heart condition

Venezuelan former first lady Cilia Flores has a “very delicate” heart condition, her son-in-law told AFP on Monday, calling for her release from the US prison where she was jailed alongside Nicolas Maduro.

Flores, 69, was arrested alongside Maduro by US forces during a raid on Caracas on Jan 3 and taken to the US to face trial on drug trafficking charges.

She is being held in the same federal prison in Brooklyn, New York, as ousted socialist president Maduro, 63.

Last month, her lawyer requested she be placed under house arrest, saying that she suffers from heart problems for which her prison conditions do not provide adequate care.

The US government opposed the request, arguing she posed “an extreme risk of flight and danger to the public”.

Maduro’s son, Nicolas Maduro Guerra, told AFP that Flores is suffering from a “prolapsed” heart, a condition that, in rare, severe cases, can cause heart failure.

He said that she required surgery and needed to be released from jail in order to properly recuperate afterwards.

Flores’ lawyer Mark Donnelly suggested she be placed under house arrest with 24-hour armed surveillance, an electronic monitoring bracelet and that her passport be confiscated.

Flores, a former president of the National Assembly and attorney general, was seen as a key figure with the repressive Maduro regime.

Both she and Maduro are accused of helping traffic cocaine into the US, which they deny.

The pair are scheduled to go on trial on June 1, 2027.

Maduro has asked for the charges against him to be dismissed, invoking his immunity as head of state.

In 2015, two of Flores’ nephews were arrested by US officials in Haiti on charges of attempting to traffic cocaine to the US.

Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas and Efrain Antonio Campos Flores were each sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2017 but were released in 2022 as part of a prisoner swap deal with the administration of former president Joe Biden.

After Maduro’s ouster, his former deputy Delcy Rodriguez took over as interim president, with the backing of US president Donald Trump.

Rodriguez has appeared ready to comply with Trump’s agenda in Venezuela, including his bid to control vast chunks of the country’s huge oil reserves.

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