A US court has scheduled the trial of Venezuela's ousted president Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores for June 1, 2027, after American commandos captured them in a raid on their Caracas compound in January. The pair was seized in the operation that also toppled the strongman who had ruled Venezuela since 2013.
Maduro, 63, and Flores have spent more than seven months in a Brooklyn jail following their arrest. Both have pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking and firearms charges.
Judge Alvin Hellerstein announced the trial date during a brief 20-minute hearing on Wednesday. The judge set the date after prosecutors and defense lawyers jointly requested it.
Maduro appeared in court wearing a beige prison uniform and glasses but said nothing except to greet the judge as he entered the courtroom. Flores, dressed identically with her blonde hair pulled back, sat near him as their lawyers flanked them both.
Outside the Manhattan courthouse, competing crowds gathered. Supporters held signs demanding "Free President Maduro" and waved Venezuelan flags, while opponents branded the pair "dictators."
The judge also scheduled a hearing for November 17 to address defense motions, including a challenge to whether the capture was lawful. Maduro has previously claimed he was "kidnapped" and called himself a "prisoner of war."
Maduro now faces four criminal counts including "narco-terrorism" conspiracy and cocaine importation conspiracy. The US alleges he leveraged state power to shield drug smuggling operations and partnered with cartels to flood American streets with cocaine.
Flores is charged with three counts: cocaine importation conspiracy and two charges related to machine guns and destructive devices. She has denied all allegations.
Maduro also denies the charges against him, including possession of machine guns and destructive devices alongside the conspiracy charge. Both defendants rejected attempts to bar their legal funding as unconstitutional.
Washington approved Venezuelan payments for their legal defense in April, reversing a sanctions restriction that had blocked such funding. The couple had argued the ban violated their constitutional right to choose their own lawyers.
Beyond the criminal case, Maduro faces a civil lawsuit filed last month by families of five young men killed in Venezuela. The families allege he ordered their extrajudicial executions as part of systematic state violence.
The complaint says an elite security unit called Special Action Forces, known as FAES, carried out the killings between 2017 and 2020 under Maduro's command. The victims represented a fraction of thousands killed under his rule through units including FAES, which disbanded in 2021 following human rights abuse complaints documented by the United Nations.
Since Maduro's capture, his former vice president Delcy Rodriguez has led Venezuela. The United States effectively controls the country's oil exports, with revenues deposited into accounts Washington oversees.
