Cilia Flores Seeks Home Detention Over Worsening Heart Condition

Cilia Flores de Maduro, Venezuela’s former first lady and the wife of former President Nicolas Maduro, has asked a US judge to transfer her from federal detention to home confinement because of a worsening heart condition. In a filing submitted on Wednesday, her lawyers said Flores was physically healthy before a January 3 US military operation that abducted her and Maduro from Caracas and brought them to New York to face federal charges. Flores’s legal team said she previously took no regular medication other than a monthly injection for mitral valve prolapse. Since entering US custody, however, she has reportedly been prescribed four medications, including baby aspirin, a statin, diltiazem and nitroglycerin. Her lawyers believe she may have suffered a minor heart attack on July 29 and said outside doctors have recommended cardiac exploration and possible surgery. They also questioned whether she has received the monthly injection needed to manage her condition. Although the filing acknowledges that Flores has received excellent medical care, it argues that the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn is not an appropriate environment for recovery from a cardiac procedure. Her lawyers proposed that she be held at a Manhattan residence under round-the-clock armed monitoring, court-approved visitors, video surveillance and recorded phone calls. Flores and Maduro are scheduled to go on trial in Manhattan next June. Flores, 69, was a prominent figure in Maduro’s government, serving as first lady from 2013 and previously leading Venezuela’s National Assembly and participating in the governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela. Both she and Maduro have pleaded not guilty to charges alleging a conspiracy to traffic cocaine into the United States. US authorities have also accused them of drug- and weapons-related offenses, while both have faced allegations involving human rights abuses. Judge Alvin K Hellerstein has not yet ruled on Flores’s request.

Cilia Flores, the former first lady of Venezuela and wife of former president Nicolas Maduro, has asked a US judge to release her from federal detention and allow her to await trial under home confinement. Flores and Maduro are facing US drug-trafficking charges and are being held at a Brooklyn federal jail after US forces reportedly seized them from their Caracas home during a raid in early January and brought them to New York City. In court papers filed on Wednesday, Flores’ lawyers, Mark Donnelly and Andres Sanchez, argued that she should be permitted to remain at a residence within the Manhattan federal court district because of a heart condition that has worsened during her incarceration. Flores, 69, and Maduro, 63, are scheduled to stand trial next June. The proposed release arrangement would involve extensive security and monitoring. According to her lawyers, Flores would be subject to 24-hour armed surveillance, permitted to receive only visitors approved by the court and federal prosecutors, monitored by video, and required to have her telephone calls recorded. Federal prosecutors had not filed a response when the article was published. A spokesman for the US attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to comment, while Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein had not yet ruled on the request. The article does not report a decision on Flores’ detention or provide further details about her medical condition. The case follows the reported transfer of the former Venezuelan president and his wife from Caracas to face proceedings in New York. The drug-trafficking allegations remain charges, and the article does not indicate that either defendant has been convicted.

Cilia Flores, Venezuela’s former first lady and the wife of former President Nicolás Maduro, has asked a US judge to release her from a Brooklyn federal jail and place her under home confinement while she awaits trial on drug-trafficking charges. Her lawyers, Mark Donnelly and Andrés Sánchez, argued in court papers that Flores’s heart condition has worsened during her detention and that she should be allowed to receive care outside jail. The proposed residence would be located within the Manhattan federal court district, where Flores and Maduro are scheduled to stand trial next June. According to the lawyers, Flores would remain under strict supervision, including round-the-clock armed surveillance, video monitoring of the home, recorded telephone calls, and restrictions on visitors. Only people approved by the court and federal prosecutors would be permitted to see her. Federal prosecutors had not filed a response to the request at the time of publication. A spokesperson for the US attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to comment, while Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein had not yet ruled. Flores, 69, and Maduro, 63, have been held at the Brooklyn jail since US forces reportedly seized them from their home in Caracas during a nighttime raid in early January and transported them to New York City. The article does not provide details about the alleged drug-trafficking charges or explain the medical diagnosis beyond describing Flores’s worsening heart condition. Her request therefore centers on both her health and the possibility of maintaining detention under tightly controlled conditions outside the jail while the case proceeds.