U.S. Arrests and Indicts Venezuelan First Lady’s Nephews for Drug Smuggling

Two relatives of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro were indicted in a federal court in Manhattan this past Thursday for conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the United States. The two men, Efrain Antonio Campos Flores and Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas, are nephews of Maduro’s wife, Venezuelan First Lady Cilia Flores. The indictment came after the two were arrested in Haiti on Tuesday night as they were finalizing a plan to transport over 800 kilograms of cocaine into the United States via Honduras, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Venezuelan government officials have refused to comment on the arrests. Without making reference to the arrests, Maduro wrote on his Twitter account on Thursday that “Neither attacks, nor imperialist ambushes will deter the land of the liberators, we only have one destiny… Triumph.”

However, these arrests could pose problems for the Venezuelan government as they approach the crucial legislative elections scheduled for Dec. 6. Facing a declining economy, widespread claims of corruption, and now the arrest of President Maduro’s relatives, the government may risk losing its majority in the National Assembly.