FLASH
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She is one of the most powerful and darkest figures in the Venezuelan regime. Cilia Flores, the wife of Nicolas Maduro and known by the president as Venezuela's "first warrior," is accused by US prosecutors of being a key part of a state network that guaranteed protection for international drug trafficking in exchange for staggering payments.
Born in 1956 in Tinaquillo, in central Venezuela, Flores grew up in a working-class neighborhood in western Caracas. A lawyer specializing in labor and criminal law, she became involved early in Hugo Chavez's movement, providing him with legal support after the failed coup in 1992. It was then that she met Nicolas Maduro, with whom she built a political and personal alliance that lasted over three decades.
Her political career quickly rose: she was elected to the Venezuelan parliament in 2000 and 2005, and in 2006 became the first woman to lead the Venezuelan parliament. Her term was marked by controversy, from media restrictions to accusations of nepotism. She later served as a senior leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and, in 2012, was appointed Attorney General by Hugo Chávez himself, remaining part of his inner circle until the end of his life.
But according to US indictments, behind the political facade lay a much darker role. US prosecutors allege that in 2007 Cilia Flores took hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to broker a meeting between a major drug trafficker and Nestor Reverol Torres, then head of Venezuela's National Anti-Drug Office.
The scheme, according to the investigation, was clear:
$100,000 for each flight of cocaine that would freely pass through Venezuelan airspace.
Part of this money allegedly ended up directly with Flores, in exchange for institutional protection for the cartels.
Reverol Torres was indicted in New York in 2015 for serious drug-related crimes and is currently on the run. American investigations describe Cilia Flores as a link between political power and drug trafficking, providing state cover for planes loaded with cocaine.
Her name became public internationally in 2015, when her two nephews were arrested in the US and convicted of drug trafficking conspiracy. They were only released in 2022, after a prisoner exchange between Washington and Caracas, which further raised doubts about Flores' real weight within the regime.
Now, as he is expected to officially face American justice in New York, one thing is clear to both supporters and critics:
Cilia Flores is inseparable from the power of Nicolas Maduro and, according to the US, one of the key figures of a system that has collaborated closely with the drug cartels - precisely the ones that President Donald Trump has declared open war on.
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