Nicolas Maduro and his wife appear in federal court again for pretrial hearing

Source: MS NOW News

Mar. 26, 2026, 1:30 PM EDT


Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, made their second appearance in federal court on Thursday as part of an ongoing U.S. prosecution stemming from their dramatic capture earlier this year.

At the hearing, which lasted roughly one hour, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein for the Southern District of New York signaled that the U.S. government’s refusal to allow the defendants’ lawyers to receive funds from Venezuela may be an unconstitutional interference with their right to counsel.

Hellerstein repeatedly said that, in a case of this complexity and given the case’s investigative demands, it is not realistic to expect court-appointed lawyers or the federal defenders’ service to provide adequate representation without draining resources from the truly indigent.

Maduro and Flores face a series of serious charges, including narco-terrorism conspiracy and drug trafficking offenses, tied to long-standing U.S. allegations that they were involved in a large-scale cocaine distribution network. Both pleaded not guilty during their first court appearance in January. The pair has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn for almost three months.

Read more: https://www.ms.now/news/maduro-court-appearance-trump-venezuela