U.S. Indicts Maduro and Wife in Historic Narcoterrorism Case

By Terence P. Jeffrey
Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Almost six years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic, then-Attorney General William “Bill” Barr convened a virtual press conference to announce the Justice Department’s actions against Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela. “Today, I am here to talk about the former Maduro regime and its direct participation in narco-terrorism, corruption, money laundering, and drug trafficking,” Barr stated on March 26, 2020.

The indictment, unsealed in the Southern District of New York, charged Maduro with conspiring against the United States through a violent terrorist organization known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Barr detailed how cocaine production in northern Colombia’s Norte de Santander region had been facilitated by Maduro’s regime since 2016, with the cartel transporting narcotics via air bridges to Venezuela and then shipping them into Central America. “We estimate somewhere between 200 and 250 metric tons of cocaine are shipped out of Venezuela by these routes per year,” Barr said. “Those 250 tons equate to 30 million lethal doses.”

The indictment alleged that from at least 1999 through 2020, Maduro participated in a corrupt and violent narco-terrorism conspiracy between the Venezuelan Cartel de Los Soles and FARC, using state institutions to smuggle cocaine into the United States. The U.S. State Department previously offered a $15 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest or conviction.

Eight months after Barr’s indictment, Joe Biden was elected president. By January 2025, just days before Donald Trump’s second term inauguration, Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Maduro’s fraudulent election victory in Venezuela, stating the United States “rejects the National Electoral Council’s fraudulent announcement.” Blinken announced increased rewards for information leading to Maduro’s arrest—up to $25 million for Maduro himself and his minister of interior Diosdado Cabello, plus a separate $15 million reward for Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez.

The Trump administration had previously raised the bounty for Maduro to $50 million in August 2024. Meanwhile, U.S. overdose deaths from cocaine surged dramatically: fatalities rose from 4,681 in 2011 to 29,449 in 2023—a six-fold increase—representing nearly three times the number of military deaths in the Vietnam War (58,220).

This week, Attorney General Pam Bondi formally indicted both Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in the Southern District of New York. The charges include narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess such weapons. “They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil,” Bondi stated in her X announcement.

The United States does not require occupying Venezuela or establishing a free democracy there—but Maduro must stand trial for his alleged crimes under U.S. law.