A newly unsealed indictment from the US Department of Justice has added a striking chapter to the case against Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s ousted president, and his wife, former first lady Cilia Flores. The 30-page filing, submitted to the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York, accuses the couple of decades of alleged drug trafficking, corruption and repression tied to their inner circle.
Among the most explosive claims: prosecutors say Maduro and Flores met shortly after Hugo Chávez’s 2013 death with three top commanders of Colombia’s former FARC guerrilla group—Rodrigo Londoño (‘Timochenko’), Luciano Marín (‘Iván Márquez’) and Seuxis Hernández (‘Jesús Santrich’). The purpose, according to the indictment, was to settle a drug-trafficking debt Maduro allegedly owed the rebels. To cover part of it, prosecutors say, he agreed to supply explosives from Venezuela’s military stockpiles—fully aware, they claim, that doing so would bolster the FARC’s ability to wage war against the Colombian state.
The alleged meeting is notable for its timing: it would have occurred just as President Juan Manuel Santos’s government was beginning peace talks with the FARC in Havana. The indictment does not specify the debt’s amount or where the meeting took place, and the allegations remain unproven in court.
Maduro and Flores were arrested in Caracas on January 3. Read the full investigation at El Tiempo.
Source: Explosivo capítulo de Colombia en nueva acusación contra Maduro y presuntos nexos con exjefes guerrilleros (eltiempo.com).
Image: Bonesaw 0311, BY 2.0 (via Openverse).