Overview
- A superseding SDNY indictment unsealed Jan. 3 charges Nicolás Maduro, Cilia Flores and others with narco‑terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, and possession of machine guns and destructive devices.
- U.S. forces seized the couple in Caracas and transferred them to New York, where both entered not‑guilty pleas before U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein and declared the capture a kidnapping.
- Maduro retained Barry J. Pollack, who filed his appearance and signaled voluminous pretrial motions challenging an alleged military abduction and asserting immunity; Flores is represented by Mark E. Donnelly, and Bruce Fein has joined Maduro’s team.
- Both defendants remain detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, with medical evaluations and consular access requested, and the next court date set for March 17.
- A central dispute will be whether Maduro can claim head‑of‑state immunity given U.S. nonrecognition of his presidency, with experts noting the Noriega precedent and potential classified evidence complicating the path to trial.