Brace yourselves, patriots—Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been nabbed in a stunning U.S. military operation.
According to The Hill, on January 3, 2026, Attorney General Pam Bondi dropped the bombshell that both had been indicted on narco-terrorism charges, following military strikes in Venezuela and their capture as announced by President Trump, though their whereabouts remain a mystery.
Let’s rewind to 2020, when Maduro first faced charges under Trump’s initial administration for similar crimes, including narco-terrorism and cocaine trafficking conspiracies alongside 14 others, while Flores dodged the spotlight back then.
Fast forward to the latest indictment, unveiled on January 3, 2026, at 8:18 a.m. ET, which builds on those earlier accusations and paints Maduro as a kingpin of corruption for over two decades.
As Venezuela’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, he’s accused of handing out diplomatic passports to drug traffickers and providing cover for planes smuggling dirty money from Mexico back home.
Now, as the de facto ruler, the charges claim he’s let cocaine-driven corruption run rampant, enriching himself, his cronies, and his family while the Venezuelan people suffer.
This new legal hammer accuses Maduro of links to six criminal gangs and drug outfits, including Colombia’s ELN guerrillas, the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, and Mexican trafficking groups.
While specifics on his ties to groups like Tren de Aragua or Cartel de los Soles—long flagged by the Trump administration—are thin, there’s more meat on his alleged dealings with FARC, including meetings with leaders and weapon-for-cocaine swaps via his son.
Maduro also faces charges like narco-terrorism conspiracy and possession of machine guns, while Flores is accused of taking hefty bribes to connect drug lords with Venezuela’s anti-drug office head.
President Trump’s announcement of their capture has Venezuelan officials demanding proof that Maduro is even alive, with early reports suggesting detention on the USS Iwo Jima, though no one is confirming their location. Attorney General Bondi, sounding like a true defender of justice, declared, “They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”
While that’s a line to cheer, let’s not ignore the skepticism—some lawmakers are crying foul over Trump bypassing congressional approval for what they call an act of war, even if they agree Maduro’s no legitimate leader.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) labeled the move “hypocritical,” pointing to the pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández after his U.S. drug trafficking conviction.
Her jab stings, but it sidesteps the scale of Maduro’s alleged crimes—like ordering kidnappings and murders in Venezuela, though U.S. charges don’t cover those acts—or the estimated 200 to 250 tons of cocaine trafficked yearly through his country, per a 2020 State Department report.
Ultimately, with the Trump administration ramping up pressure on Maduro’s regime for months by targeting Caribbean drug vessels, and this indictment hitting in the Southern District of New York, it’s clear the fight for accountability isn’t just a courtroom drama—it’s a signal that America won’t stand for narco-corruption, even if the progressive crowd wrings their hands over the methods.