A federal court in New York has added a fifth superseding indictment to the sprawling narco-terrorism case against former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro Moros and his wife, Cilia Flores. The 30-page filing, submitted on October 8, 2026, and reviewed by the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, newly details alleged cooperation between the Venezuelan government and Colombia’s National Liberation Army, known as the ELN, one of Latin America’s last active guerrilla movements.
US prosecutors claim the couple spent more than 25 years using their public positions to enrich themselves through drug trafficking and corruption, while clinging to power through a system of repression that included torturing opponents, military officers, and American citizens. Both face charges including narco-terrorism conspiracy, torture conspiracy, cocaine importation, and illegal weapons possession.
Beyond the ELN, the indictment names Colombia’s former FARC rebels, Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, and the Tren de Aragua gang as alleged partners in crime. Specific allegations include a senior Venezuelan official who reportedly traveled regularly between 2022 and 2024 to clandestine airstrips near the Colombian border to ensure cocaine shipments passed through Venezuelan territory. Another passage describes a 2017 scheme in which military intelligence operatives allegedly traded weapons for cocaine shipments benefiting FARC and ELN members. A separate claim ties Flores to a 2007 offer of state oil contracts to ELN-aligned groups as a bargaining chip during negotiations.
For the full breakdown of the indictment’s claims, read the original report at El Tiempo.
Source: Exclusivo: las seis menciones al Eln en la nueva acusación contra Nicolás Maduro en Estados Unidos (eltiempo.com).
Image: Anne Worner, BY-SA 2.0 (via Openverse).