On 3 January 2026, during the United States strikes in Venezuela, U.S. president Donald Trump stated that Flores and Maduro had been captured by the United States. Venezuelan vice president Delcy Rodríguez confirmed that both are missing and has demanded "immediate proof of life".[3] The couple made their initial court appearance in a Manhattan federal court on January 5, 2026, with each pleading not guilty to numerous drug trafficking charges.[4]
Flores was born in Tinaquillo on October 15, 1956, and raised in Caracas.[7] She is the daughter of Cilia Adela Flores, who died in March 2016, and Julio Seijas. Flores is from a lower middle-class background.[8][9] She graduated with a law degree from the Universidad Santa María in Caracas, specializing in criminal and labor law.
Political career
As the lead attorney for Hugo Chávez's defense team, she helped secure Chávez's release from prison in 1994 after his unsuccessful coup in 1992.[10]
Tactical Command for the Revolution
While serving as chair of the Political Command of the Bolivarian Revolution, Flores was part of the Tactical Command for the Revolution, an organization that ran the majority of Hugo Chávez's political machine. On 7 April, days before the 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt, Flores, along with Guillermo García Ponce and Freddy Bernal shared plans of using the Bolivarian Circles as a paramilitary force to end opposition marches and defend Chávez in Miraflores Palace by organizing them into brigades.[11]
From 2012 until the election of Maduro, she served as the Attorney General of Venezuela.[12]
First Lady
Upon Maduro's victory in the 2013 presidential election over Henrique Capriles, Cilia Flores became Venezuela's First Lady, a position that had been vacant since 2003. As First Lady, Flores ran for a seat in the National Assembly in Venezuela's 2015 parliamentary elections as a candidate for the Great Patriotic Pole.[14] She said she would use her seat to defend the social rights of citizens and the achievements of the Bolivarian Revolution.[15]
Flores reportedly placed relatives and loyalists in key positions within the state's legal system ensuring that major decisions were routed through her office.[8] Critics note that under her influence the judiciary became politicized and did not issue a ruling against the state for over two decades. Zair Mundaray, a former senior prosecutor, stated that Flores is a "fundamental figure" in the nation's power structure and corruption.[8]
According to a statement issued by Donald Trump, Flores was captured by the U.S. military alongside Maduro during the 2026 United States strikes in Venezuela.[16][17] In January 2021, a federal indictment was unsealed charging Flores, Maduro, and their son with collaborating with drug traffickers.[8] Flores and Maduro were captured and brought to the US to face these charges in January 2026.
Flores was accused of nepotism with individuals claiming that several of her close relatives became employees of the National Assembly while she was a deputy.[18][19][20] According to Tal Cual, 16 relatives of Flores were in an office while she was in the National Assembly.[21] Flores responded to the reporters who shared the nepotism allegations stating it was part of a smear campaign, calling them "mercenaries of the pen".[18] Both opposition and members of the government denounced the alleged nepotism calling it an injustice, with one PSUV member taking the allegations to Venezuela's Ministry of Labour.[18] In 2012, relatives of Flores were removed from office[21] though some received other occupations in the government a year later.[22]
In a 2013 interview with La Vanguardia, Flores defended the presence of her family members in government, stating, "My family got in based on their own merits... I am proud of them, and I will defend their work as many times as necessary."[23][8]
According to journalist Maibort Petit, Flores' son, Walter Jacob Gavidia Flores, whose last salary through 2015 was less than $1,000, made multiple international trips in 2015 and 2016 on private flights costing approximately $20,000 per trip. Gavidia Flores spent most of his time in the United States, though he also took chartered flights to France, Germany, Malta and Spain.[24]
On 10 November 2015, two nephews of Cilia Flores, Efraín Antonio Campos Flores and Francisco Flores de Freitas, were arrested in Port-au-Prince, Haiti by local police while attempting to make a deal to transport 800 kilograms[25] of cocaine destined for New York City and were turned over to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) where they were flown directly to the United States.[26][27][28] Campos stated on the DEA plane that he was the step son of Ex-President Maduro and that he grew up in the Maduro household while being raised by Flores.[27][28] The men traveled to Haiti with Venezuelan diplomatic passports but did not have diplomatic immunity according to former head of DEA international operations Michael Vigil.[26] The two were previously monitored and filmed by the DEA between October and November 2015 after they contacted a DEA informant for advice on trafficking cocaine and brought a kilogram of cocaine to the informant to show its quality.[27] The incident happened at a time when multiple high-ranking members of the Venezuelan government were being investigated for their involvement of drug trafficking.[27]
On 18 November 2016, Flores' two nephews were found guilty of trying to ship drugs into the United States so they could "obtain a large amount of cash to help their family stay in power".[29]
Sanctions
Flores has been sanctioned by several countries and is banned from entering neighboring Colombia. The Colombian government maintains a list of people banned from entering Colombia or subject to expulsion; as of January 2019, the list had 200 people with a "close relationship and support for the Nicolás Maduro regime".[30][31]
Maduro and Flores with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brasília, Brazil, 29 May 2023
Responding to the May 2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Canada sanctioned 14 Venezuelans, including Flores,[32] stating that the "economic, political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela has continued to worsen as it moves ever closer to full dictatorship".[33] The government said the 2018 presidential election was "illegitimate and anti-democratic",[32] and sanctioned Flores, along with 13 other members of the ANC and TSJ.[34]
On 27 March 2018, Panama sanctioned 55 public officials[35] and 16 businesses that operate in Panama,[36] related to the family of Flores.[37] The sanctioned businesses have members of the Malpica-Flores family on their boards of directors.[37] The companies, headed by various members of Flores' family and recently created, were sanctioned for allegedly laundering money.[38]
The US Treasury Department seized a private jet and imposed sanctions on Maduro's inner circle in September 2018;[39][40] Flores and top Maduro administration officials were sanctioned.[41] Maduro responded to his wife's sanctions, saying: "You don't mess with Cilia. You don't mess with family. Don't be cowards! Her only crime [is] being my wife."[42] The United States said the sanctions were a response to the "plundering" of Venezuela's resources.[43]
Wealth
Investigative reports have linked the Flores family to vast, unexplained wealth, including the effective acquisition of an entire street of luxury homes in Caracas.[8]
On 5 January 2026, Flores and her husband would both be arraigned, with each entering not guilty pleas to numerous drug trafficking charges.[4] According to her lawyer, Mark Donnelly, she suffered "significant injuries during her abduction", including a fracture and heavy rib bruising. Flores wore a bandage on her forehead during the hearing.[46]
During the hearing, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein ordered Maduro to remain held until at least a March 17 hearing.[4]
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