Cilia Flores | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Flores in 2025 | |
| First Lady of Venezuela | |
| In role 5 March 2013[a] – 5 January 2026 | |
| President | Nicolás Maduro |
| Preceded by | Marisabel Rodríguez de Chávez |
| Succeeded by | Vacant |
| 4th President of the National Assembly | |
| In office 15 August 2006 – 5 January 2011 | |
| President | Hugo Chávez |
| Preceded by | Nicolás Maduro |
| Succeeded by | Fernando Soto Rojas |
| Attorney General of Venezuela | |
| In office 25 January 2012 – 11 March 2013 | |
| President | Hugo Chávez Nicolás Maduro (acting) |
| Preceded by | Carlos Escarrá |
| Succeeded by | Manuel Enrique Galindo |
| Member of the National Assembly | |
| Assumed office 5 January 2021 | |
| Constituency | National List |
| In office 5 January 2016 – 5 January 2021 | |
| Constituency | Cojedes |
| In office 30 July 2000 – 2 February 2012 | |
| Constituency | Capital District |
| Member of the National Constituent Assembly | |
| In office 4 August 2017 – 18 December 2020 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Cilia Adela Flores (1956-10-15)15 October 1956 (age 69) Tinaquillo, Cojedes, Venezuela |
| Party | PSUV (since 2007) |
| Other political affiliations | MVR (1997-2006) |
| Spouses |
|
| Children | 3 |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Criminal information | |
| Criminal status | Incarcerated at theMetropolitan Detention Center[1][2] |
Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro (born 15 October 1956) is a Venezuelan lawyer and politician who served as thefirst lady ofVenezuela from 2013 to 2026. She is married toNicolás Maduro, who served as thepresident of Venezuela from 2013 until the couple werecaptured by theUnited States in 2026 andextracted from the country, resulting in hisde facto removal from power. In2015, she became a deputy in theNational Assembly of Venezuela of which she waspresident from 2006 to 2011 for her home state ofCojedes.
In 2017, theConstituent National Assembly was founded in which she was a member of the Presidential Commission.
On 3 January 2026, during theUnited States strikes in Venezuela, Flores and Maduro were captured by the United States. The couple made their initial court appearance in a Manhattan federal court on 5 January 2026, with each pleading not guilty to numerous drug trafficking charges.[3]
The couple was previously indicted by theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York on various drug charges in 2021 for which their extradition was sought.[4][5]
Flores was born inTinaquillo on 15 October 1956, and raised inCaracas.[6] She is the daughter of Cilia Adela Flores, who died in March 2016, and Julio Seijas. Flores is from a lower middle-class background.[7][8] She graduated with alaw degree[9] from theUniversidad Santa María in Caracas, specializing incriminal andlabor law.
As the lead attorney forHugo Chávez's defense team, she helped secure Chávez's release from prison in 1994 after hisunsuccessful coup in 1992.[10][9]
While serving as chair of the Political Command of the Bolivarian Revolution, Flores was part of the Tactical Command for the Revolution, an organization that ran the majority of Hugo Chávez's political machine. On 7 April, days before the2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt, Flores, along withGuillermo García Ponce andFreddy Bernal shared plans of using theBolivarian Circles as aparamilitary force to end opposition marches and defend Chávez inMiraflores Palace by organizing them into brigades.[11]
In 2000, Flores was elected as a deputy in the National Assembly.[12]
As a member of theUnited Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Flores replaced her future husband Maduro as Speaker of theAssembly in August 2006 when he was appointedMinister of Foreign Affairs. She was the first woman to serve as the President of the National Assembly (2006–2011). On 10 January 2007, Flores swore Chávez into office following the2006 presidential election.[13]
From 2012 until the election of Maduro, she served as the Attorney General of Venezuela.[12]
Upon Maduro's victory in the2013 presidential election overHenrique Capriles, Cilia Flores became Venezuela's First Lady, a position that had been vacant since 2003. As First Lady, Flores ran for a seat in the National Assembly inVenezuela's 2015 parliamentary elections as a candidate for theGreat Patriotic Pole.[14] She said she would use her seat to defend the social rights of citizens and the achievements of the Bolivarian Revolution.[15]
In 2017, Flores was elected into theConstituent Assembly of Venezuela.[12]
Flores reportedly placed relatives and loyalists in key positions within the state's legal system ensuring that major decisions were routed through her office.[7] Critics note that under her influence the judiciary became politicized and did not issue a ruling against the state for over two decades. Zair Mundaray, a former senior prosecutor, stated that Flores is a "fundamental figure" in the nation's power structure and corruption.[7]
According to a statement issued byDonald Trump, Flores was captured by the U.S. military alongside Maduro during the2026 United States strikes in Venezuela.[16][17] In January 2021, a federal indictment was unsealed charging Flores, Maduro, and their son with collaborating withdrug traffickers.[7] Flores and Maduro were captured and brought to the US to face these charges in January 2026.
Flores was accused ofnepotism with individuals claiming that several of her close relatives became employees of the National Assembly while she was a deputy.[18][19][20] According toTal Cual, 16 relatives of Flores were in an office while she was in the National Assembly.[21] Flores responded to the reporters who shared the nepotism allegations stating it was part of a smear campaign, calling them "mercenaries of the pen".[18] Both opposition and members of the government denounced the alleged nepotism calling it an injustice, with one PSUV member taking the allegations to Venezuela's Ministry of Labour.[18] In 2012, relatives of Flores were removed from office[21] though some received other occupations in the government a year later.[22]
In a 2013 interview withLa Vanguardia, Flores defended the presence of her family members in government, stating, "My family got in based on their own merits... I am proud of them, and I will defend their work as many times as necessary."[23][7]
According to journalist Maibort Petit, Flores' son, Walter Jacob Gavidia Flores, whose last salary through 2015 was less than $1,000, made multiple international trips in 2015 and 2016 on private flights costing approximately $20,000 per trip. Gavidia Flores spent most of his time in the United States, though he also took chartered flights to France, Germany, Malta and Spain.[24]
On 10 November 2015, two nephews of Cilia Flores, Efraín Antonio Campos Flores and Francisco Flores de Freitas, were arrested inPort-au-Prince,Haiti by local police while attempting to make a deal to transport 800 kilograms[25] ofcocaine destined forNew York City and were turned over to theUS Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) where they were flown directly to the United States.[26][27][28] Campos stated on the DEA plane that he was thestep son of Ex-President Maduro and that he grew up in the Maduro household while being raised by Flores.[27][28] The men traveled to Haiti with Venezuelan diplomatic passports but did not havediplomatic immunity according to former head of DEA international operations Michael Vigil.[26] The two were previously monitored and filmed by the DEA between October and November 2015 after they contacted a DEA informant for advice on trafficking cocaine and brought a kilogram of cocaine to the informant to show its quality.[27] The incident happened at a time when multiple high-ranking members of the Venezuelan government were being investigated for their involvement of drug trafficking.[27]
On 18 November 2016, Flores' two nephews were found guilty of trying to ship drugs into the United States so they could "obtain a large amount of cash to help their family stay in power".[29]
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Flores has beensanctioned by several countries and is banned from entering neighboring Colombia. The Colombian government maintains a list of people banned from entering Colombia or subject to expulsion; as of January 2019, the list had 200 people with a "close relationship and support for the Nicolás Maduro regime".[30][31]
Responding to the May2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Canada sanctioned 14 Venezuelans, including Flores,[32] stating that the "economic, political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela has continued to worsen as it moves ever closer to full dictatorship".[33] The government said the 2018 presidential election was "illegitimate and anti-democratic",[32] and sanctioned Flores, along with 13 other members of the ANC and TSJ.[34]
On 27 March 2018, Panama sanctioned 55 public officials[35] and 16 businesses that operate in Panama,[36] related to the family of Flores.[37] The sanctioned businesses have members of the Malpica-Flores family on their boards of directors.[37] The companies, headed by various members of Flores' family and recently created, were sanctioned for allegedly laundering money.[38]
TheUS Treasury Department seized a private jet and imposed sanctions on Maduro's inner circle in September 2018;[39][40] Flores and top Maduro administration officials were sanctioned.[41] Maduro responded to his wife's sanctions, saying: "You don't mess with Cilia. You don't mess with family. Don't be cowards! Her only crime [is] being my wife."[42] The United States said the sanctions were a response to the "plundering" of Venezuela's resources.[43]
Both Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores werecaptured by theUnited States on 3 January 2026. The couple were taken toNew York to face trial.[44][45]
On 5 January 2026, Flores and her husband would both be arraigned, with each entering not guilty pleas to numerous drug trafficking charges.[3] According to her lawyer, Mark Donnelly, she suffered "significant injuries during her abduction", including a fracture and heavy rib bruising. Flores wore a bandage on her forehead during the hearing.[46]
During the hearing, U.S. District JudgeAlvin Hellerstein ordered Maduro to remain held until at least a 17 March hearing.[3]
Flores’s first marriage was toWalter Ramón Gavidia,[12] with whom she has three children.[6] She then married President Nicolás Maduro, whom she replaced asPresident of the National Assembly in August 2006 when he resigned to becomeMinister of Foreign Affairs.[13] The two had been in a romantic relationship since the 1990s when Flores was Hugo Chávez's lawyer following the1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempts[47] and were married on 15 July 2013, months after Maduro became president.[48][49]
Her husband Maduro has one son,Nicolás Maduro Guerra, whom he appointed to senior government posts: Chief of the presidency's Special Inspectors Body, head of the National Film School, and a seat in the2017 Constituent National Assembly,[50] while Flores has an adopted son,Efraín Antonio Campo Flores, who is her nephew (her deceased sister's son).[47]
Flores is a follower of Indian guruSathya Sai Baba. Flores and Maduro visited Sai Baba in India in 2005.[51]
Investigative reports have linked the Flores family to vast, unexplained wealth, including the effective acquisition of an entire street of luxury homes in Caracas.[7]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | President of the National Assembly of Venezuela 2006–2011 | Succeeded by Fernando Soto Rojas |
| Preceded by | Attorney General of Venezuela 2012–2013 | Succeeded by Manuel Enrique Galindo |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | First Lady of Venezuela 2013–present | Incumbent |
