CARACAS: Two nephews of the first lady of Venezuela were to be arraigned Thursday in NY on federal drug smuggling charges after their arrest and immediate extradition from Haiti, according to several media reports.
They were arrested after contacting an undercover USA agent about selling 800 kilograms (1,763 pounds) of cocaine through Honduras, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
Campo Flores, 29, told the USA agents that he is the stepson of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, having been raised by his aunt, Cilia Flores, who is Maduro’s wife. With public anger rising over the state of Venezuela’s economy, Maduro’s ruling socialist faced the possibility of losing power for the first time in 16 years.
“Although it is still not clear how close the two men are to Maduro himself, this case clearly demonstrates the level of corruption that permeates Venezuelan society, and Maduro’s presidency”.
The pair, who listened to the court proceedings via an interpreter, were accompanied by their attorneys, who told reporters present in court that they are in constant communication with Venezuelan diplomatic personnel.
A former president of the National Assembly who is now running for congress, Ms Flores became romantically involved with Mr Maduro in the 1990s while serving as lawyer for the then-jailed Hugo Chavez.
The arrests come amidst United States prosecutors seeming to crack down on Venezuela being a “transit zone” for narcotics.
Invited to address a special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Maduro first sat and listened as United Nations human rights commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein in a recorded video message urged Venezuela – recently re-elected to a new term on the HRC – to do more to advance human rights at home and overseas.
Flores, 62, called the “First Combatant” by the president, is highly influential in her husband’s government.
The US Treasury now lists nine Venezuelan officials as “kingpins”, people it suspects of involvement in large-scale drug trafficking. The two formally Wednesday in 2013 shortly after Maduro was elected.
Those under investigation reportedly include Diosdado Cabello, current speaker of the National Assembly, who is widely seen as the second most powerful man in the country.
The State Department has called Venezuela a “preferred” route for drug traffickers sending their shipments to the US and Western Europe.
The arrests mark a heightened attempt by the U.S. to combat the drug flow from Venezuela that the American government says it involves over 200 tons of cocaine a year trafficked through, in many cases, the upper rungs of the Venezuelan government.
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