Nephews of Venezuela’s first lady arrested on US cocaine-smuggling charges
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 12 November, 2015, 10:26am
UPDATED : Thursday, 12 November, 2015, 10:26am
Associated Press in Bogota, Colombia
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores greet supporters in Caracas in 2014. Flores is a powerful presence in her husband’s administration. Photo: AP
Two nephews of Venezuela's powerful first lady Cilia Flores were arrested in Haiti on charges of conspiring to smuggle 800kg of cocaine into the US and will be arraigned in New York, three people familiar with the case said.
The arrest Tuesday, coming just three weeks ahead of key Venezuelan legislative elections, is likely to exacerbate already tense relations between the US and Venezuela and cast a hard look at US accusations of drug trafficking at the highest levels of embattled President Nicolas Maduro's socialist administration.
The two suspects, Efrain Campos and Francisco Flores, were extradited from Haiti and are set to be arraigned in a federal court in New York, said a US law enforcement official, who insisted on speaking anonymously on Wednesday since he was not authorised to discuss the case.
Michael Vigil, a former head of international operations at the Drug Enforcement Administration who was briefed by US authorities about the lengthy undercover operation, said Campos and Flores were arrested in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, after arriving from Venezuela aboard a private plane. Both men were carrying diplomatic passports even though they don't have diplomatic immunity, Vigil said.
He also said Campos had claimed to law enforcement that he is the son of Cilia Flores and stepson of Maduro.
Another person briefed on the incident, who agreed to talk about the case only if not quoted by name, said Campos is the son of a deceased sister of Cilia Flores and was partly raised by the first lady and Maduro.
Flores, who Maduro calls the “First Combatant”, is one of the most-powerful members of Venezuela's revolutionary government and a constant presence alongside her husband whenever he appears in public. The two travelled this week to Saudi Arabia for a summit and she's expected to be with the president when he's scheduled to address the United Nations Human Rights Council at a special meeting in Geneva called at Venezuela's request.
A former president of the National Assembly who is now running for congress, Flores became romantically involved with Maduro in the 1990s while serving as lawyer for the then-jailed Hugo Chavez. Maduro was one of many leftist activists drawn to the charismatic junior army officer following his arrest for a failed 1992 coup attempt. The two formally wed in 2013 shortly after Maduro was elected.
Venezuela's Communications Ministry and Foreign Ministry declined to comment about the reported arrests, saying they had no information about the incident.
American prosecutors have been steadily stepping up pressure on high-ranking members of Venezuela's military, police and government officials for their alleged role in making the country an important transit zone for narcotics heading to the US and Europe. The US government says more than 200 tonnes a year of cocaine flows through Venezuela, about a third of Colombia's estimated production.
But while several Venezuelan officials, including a former defense minister and head of military intelligence, have been indicted or sanctioned in the US, and many more are under investigation, no drug probes had previously touched Maduro's inner circle.
