Maduro and Cilia Flores to face US trial in June 2027

Venezuela's ousted president Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are scheduled to go on trial in the United States on June 1, 2027, after a federal court ruling Wednesday.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein set the date during a roughly 20-minute hearing following a joint request by prosecutors and defense lawyers. Maduro, 63, and Flores have been held in a Brooklyn jail for more than seven months after pleading not guilty to federal drug trafficking and firearms charges.

US commandos captured the couple at their compound in Caracas on January 3 in an operation involving naval, air and ground forces. Maduro has called the operation a kidnapping and described himself in January as a prisoner of war.

At Wednesday's hearing, Maduro appeared in a beige prison uniform and glasses. He did not speak except to greet the court as he entered. Flores, also in a beige prison uniform, sat a few feet away, with lawyers around the couple.

Outside the Manhattan courthouse, protesters waved Venezuelan flags and carried signs saying "Free President Maduro." Other demonstrators held placards calling Maduro and Flores dictators.

Hellerstein also set a November 17 hearing for defense motions, including a challenge to the legality of the couple's capture.

US prosecutors allege that Maduro used state power to protect and promote drug smuggling and worked with cartels to send tons of cocaine into the United States. Maduro has denied four counts: narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

Flores has pleaded not guilty to three counts: cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

The United States in April allowed Venezuela to pay for Maduro's and Flores's legal defense, after US sanctions had previously barred that funding. The couple had sought dismissal of their cases, arguing that blocking the payments violated the US constitutional right to counsel of one's choice.

Since Maduro's capture, Venezuela has been led by his former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez. The United States effectively controls Venezuela's oil exports, with proceeds placed in special accounts overseen by Washington.

Maduro also faces a US civil case filed by the families of five young men killed in Venezuela. The complaint, filed last month, alleges that Maduro ordered the extrajudicial killings as part of a wider pattern of state violence. It says an elite security force called the Special Action Forces, or FAES, executed the men between 2017 and 2020, and that the victims were among thousands killed under Maduro's command by units including FAES.

FAES was dissolved in 2021 after complaints of human rights abuses, including from the United Nations. During Maduro's 2013-2026 presidency, he was widely accused of using political repression to remain in power. His re-elections in 2018 and 2024 were rejected as fraudulent by numerous countries, including the United States. The New York Times reported that Maduro was expected to seek immunity in the civil case as a head of state.