The newly unsealed criminal indictment against now-arrested Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro reads less like a government document and more like a cartel operations manual — except this one was allegedly run from the highest levels of a so-called government.
According to the Department of Justice, Maduro, his wife, and key allies abused diplomatic privileges to move massive amounts of drug money from Mexico into Venezuela, using diplomatic planes and immunity as cover. So much for “sovereignty.”
Released Saturday morning by Attorney General Pam Bondi, just hours after U.S. forces captured Maduro in Venezuela, the indictment outlines a long-running criminal partnership involving Venezuela’s leadership, Colombian terrorist groups, and Mexico’s most violent cartels — including the Sinaloa Cartel and Los Zetas, now known as Cartel Del Noreste.
Prosecutors allege that between 2006 and 2008, while serving as Venezuela’s foreign minister, Maduro sold diplomatic passports to drug traffickers, allowing them to move cartel cash under diplomatic protection. He also allegedly granted diplomatic immunity to private aircraft flying between Mexico and Venezuela — aircraft that weren’t carrying diplomatic materials, but instead were stuffed with cartel money.
And it didn’t stop there.
The indictment claims that in 2007, Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, accepted a substantial bribe to arrange a meeting between major traffickers and Venezuela’s top drug enforcement official at the time, Nestor Reverol Torres. The payoff? Prosecutors say Reverol agreed to take $100,000 per drug shipment, with a portion of that money allegedly kicked back to Flores. Family values, cartel-style.
In another stunning allegation, prosecutors say that in 2006, Maduro and his family coordinated the shipment of 5.5 tons of cocaine aboard a jet flying from Venezuela to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. The cocaine had previously been seized by Venezuelan authorities — then allegedly reloaded onto the plane by the Venezuelan military itself. You can’t make this stuff up.
The indictment also details the role of Maduro’s top ally Diosdado Cabello, who is accused of working with Colombian cartels and Los Zetas between 2003 and 2011 to move multi-ton cocaine shipments through Venezuela and into Mexican ports. Some shipments reportedly reached 20 tons at a time, protected by Cabello and senior Venezuelan military officials known as “The Generals.”
Federal prosecutors further allege that since 2011, Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán financed drug labs in Colombia, with cocaine routed through Venezuela under military protection before heading north toward Mexico and, ultimately, the United States.
This indictment lays bare what many already knew: Maduro didn’t just tolerate drug trafficking — he allegedly ran it from the top, abusing diplomatic status, military power, and international trust to enrich himself and his allies while flooding American streets with poison.
Now, with Maduro in U.S. custody and facing justice, the message is clear: abusing power has consequences. Accountability has finally arrived — and that’s a win for the rule of law and for the safety of American communities.
