Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have asked a US judge to throw out the drug-trafficking case against them, arguing that they are protected by sovereign immunity as Venezuela’s former leader and first lady.
Applications filed in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday claim that American courts cannot prosecute a foreign head of state for acts carried out while in office. Maduro’s lawyers said no US court had previously tried a leader recognised by his own country as its sitting president when charges were brought.
“Heads of state are exempt from the criminal process of any national court but their own,” the lawyers argued.
Flores has made a separate immunity application. Her legal team said immunity was an attribute of Venezuela’s sovereignty and could be surrendered only by Venezuela itself.
Maduro’s lawyers also argued that, even if he was not entitled to immunity as head of state, he should be protected from prosecution for conduct allegedly carried out in his official capacity.
Both defendants have pleaded not guilty. Their motions are due to be argued before District Judge Alvin Hellerstein on November 17, while the trial is scheduled to begin on June 1, 2027, if the case proceeds. Prosecutors are expected to respond by October 2.
The legal challenge will put Maduro’s claim to presidential status at the centre of the proceedings. The United States has not recognised him as Venezuela’s legitimate head of state since the disputed 2018 election, according to court documents.
Maduro, 63, and Flores, 69, have been held in a Brooklyn jail since US forces seized them during an operation in Caracas on January 3 and transferred them to New York. A report submitted to Congress by the White House described the action as an apprehension and arrest carried out after warrants had been issued by the Southern District of New York.
The superseding indictment alleges that Maduro and other senior Venezuelan officials worked with drug-trafficking organisations and corrupt law-enforcement figures to move thousands of tonnes of cocaine towards the United States. Prosecutors also allege that the conspiracy involved groups including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the Sinaloa Cartel and Tren de Aragua.
Maduro’s lawyers strongly deny the accusations, saying he would be shown to have been falsely accused if the case reached trial. The couple face the possibility of life in prison if convicted of conspiring to import cocaine into the US.
The US administration has described the operation that captured Maduro as a limited law-enforcement action. Maduro has called his detention a kidnapping and said he is a prisoner of war.
