Nicolas Maduro served as president of Venezuela for more than 10 years before he was ousted over the weekend in a United States military operation that captured and brought him to the U.S. to face narco-terrorism charges.
PROFILE : Who is Nicolas Maduro ?, the ousted Venezuelan president
In the indictment, federal prosecutors referred to Maduro as the “de facto but illegitimate ruler of the country” and accused him of allowing “cocaine-fueled corruption to flourish for his own benefit, the benefit of members of his ruling regime, and for the benefit of his family members.”
Maduro, 63, started serving in the Venezuelan government in 2000, when he was elected to the National Assembly. He was the minister of foreign affairs and then vice president under former President Hugo Chavez before being elected president in 2013 in a narrow victory following Chavez’s death.
He declared victory again in disputed elections in 2018 and 2024. The country’s National Assembly said in 2019 that he had usurped power, and more than 50 countries, including the U.S., do not recognize him as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, according to the State Department.
Venezuela’s opposition party also maintains that Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who ran against Maduro in the election last year, should be the rightful president of Venezuela. Independent exit polls showed Gonzalez Urrutia received two-thirds of the votes, and the U.S. said “overwhelming evidence” supported his victory, but Maduro claimed he won the election and did not cede power.
Federal prosecutors allege that since 1999, Venezuelan officials, including Maduro, have “partnered with some of the most violent and prolific drug traffickers and narco-terrorists in the world, and relied on corrupt officials throughout the region, to distribute tons of cocaine to the United States.”
The Justice Department charged Maduro under President Donald Trump’s first term in 2020, with federal prosecutors alleging he “very deliberately deployed cocaine as a weapon.”
The indictment alleged that while the foreign minister of Venezuela, Maduro was paid millions in drug proceeds in connection with a money-laundering scheme that was part of the narco-terrorism conspiracy. It further accused him of helping manage and then leading a Venezuelan drug-trafficking organization dubbed the Cartel of the Suns “as he gained power in Venezuela,” and continuing to participate in cocaine trafficking during his presidency.
Maduro has previously denied accusations of drug-dealing.
A reward of up to $15 million was offered for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction. In January 2025, in the wake of the 2024 election, the Biden administration increased the reward to $25 million, with the Treasury Department saying Maduro and his representatives “have continued their violent repression in an attempt to maintain power, and have ignored the Venezuelan people’s calls … for democratic accountability.”
The reward for Maduro’s arrest increased to $50 million during Trump’s second term, after the Treasury Department sanctioned Cartel of the Suns as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist.”
A new superseding indictment, handed up last month by a federal grand jury in New York, expanded the timeline of Maduro’s alleged crimes to the present day and included his wife and son among the defendants.
Questions swirl about who is going to ‘run’ Venezuela after Maduro’s ouster
Maduro and his second wife — 69-year-old Cilia Flores, whom he married in 2013 — were captured by U.S. forces on Saturday in Caracas and brought to New York, where they are being held in federal custody at a detention center in Brooklyn.
Both pleaded not guilty to their charges during their arraignment on Monday. During the hearing, Maduro told the court he is innocent and “still president of my country,” and his attorney signaled they may try to assert Maduro is entitled to protection from prosecution as head of a sovereign state.
Maduro’s son — 35-year-old Nicolas Maduro Guerra, who is a member of Venezuela’s National Assembly — remains in Venezuela. He has denounced being named in the indictment, saying he and his family are being “persecuted” while speaking before the legislature on Monday, according to a translation of his remarks by Reuters.
Trump said following Maduro’s capture that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela for an unspecified “period of time,” with Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggesting more recently that the U.S. would use economic leverage to impose its will.
In the wake of the ousting, Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, was formally sworn in as the interim president of Venezuela on Monday.
Multiple countries have joined Venezuela in criticizing the U.S. intervention and questioning its legality, while the Trump administration has defended its operation, saying it is protecting American interests and conducting a law enforcement operation in furtherance of the indictments.
Several Democratic lawmakers have also questioned the justification and legality of the action.