In a US military operation in Venezuela last Saturday (3 Jan 2026 GMT+7), they not only detained President Nicolás Maduro but also arrested his wife.
Cilia Flores, a 69-year-old former lawyer, has long been seen as one of the most influential figures in Venezuela. She is a skilled politician who has played a significant role in shaping the country's fate for decades.
She served as President of Venezuela's National Assembly for several years and helped strengthen her husband's power base after he won the presidential election in 2013. Maduro dubbed her the “First Warrior,” a play on the title First Lady.
Flores chose to reduce her public role, focusing more on her image as a mother prioritizing family. She once hosted the TV program Con Cilia en Familia and occasionally appeared in state media dancing salsa with her husband. Behind the scenes, she was believed to be one of Maduro's key advisors and the strategist behind his political survival.
In recent years, Flores has faced multiple corruption and cronyism charges, and family members have been convicted by US courts for cocaine smuggling. Now, she faces drug trafficking and weapons charges in a New York court alongside her husband.
Flores met Maduro in the early 1990s while she was a rising young lawyer tasked with defending those involved in the failed 1992 coup, one of whose leaders was Hugo Chávez, the future authoritarian president and US adversary.
It was during those years she met Maduro, who was then working as Chávez’s security officer.
“I met Cilia on this life path,” Maduro recalled. “She was the lawyer for several imprisoned patriotic officers, and she was also Commander Chávez’s lawyer. Well, being the lawyer for Commander Chávez in prison was a very demanding job… I met her during those years of struggle, and she impressed me.”
Since then, their fates have been tied to Chávez and his political movement known as “Chavismo.”
After Chávez won the presidency in 1998, Flores quickly advanced politically, becoming a National Assembly member in 2000 and its president in 2006.
For the following six years, she led a parliament dominated almost entirely by one political party, as the main opposition boycotted elections, alleging they were neither free nor fair.
When Chávez died in 2013, Flores fully backed Maduro, helping him narrowly win the subsequent presidential election.
Flores married Maduro in 2013, formalizing their long-term relationship. Before that, they lived together and jointly raised children from previous relationships—her three children and Maduro’s one child.
“To those who despise Flores, she is seen as part of a government rife with corruption, human rights abuses, and brutality,” said Christopher Sabatini, senior fellow at Chatham House’s Latin America program.
“She is the power behind the throne,” he added. “But like other good powers behind the throne, her actions are often invisible, so no one knows exactly how much power she wields.”
Political scientist Estefanía Reyes told CNN it is hard to measure her power because she exercises it “behind the scenes” and outside formal institutions.
“If there is truly dual leadership,” Reyes said, “it has never been formalized, unlike Nicaragua where President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, openly share power.”
Reyes noted that in recent years, Flores has adopted a public image emphasizing motherhood to connect with the public, rather than pursuing elected office herself.
Throughout her career, Flores has faced many corruption allegations.
In 2012, a labor union accused her of nepotism for using her influence to hire around 40 people, many of whom were family members.
In November 2015, she became involved in the “Drug Lord General’s Nephews” case when two of her nephews, Francisco Flores de Freitas and Efraín Antonio Campo Flores, were arrested in Haiti during a US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) sting operation.
They were caught trying to smuggle 800 kilograms of cocaine into the United States.
Flores accused US authorities of “kidnapping” her nephews, but a judge sentenced both men to 18 years for drug trafficking. They were returned to Venezuela in 2022 as part of a prisoner exchange under the Joe Biden administration.
However, last month the Trump administration imposed new sanctions on the two nephews and a third nephew, Carlos Erick Malpica Flores. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, “Nicolás Maduro and his criminal associates in Venezuela are flooding the United States with drugs, poisoning the American people.”
Shortly after Flores's arrest, the US revealed charges it plans to file against her, including drug trafficking and accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in 2007 to arrange meetings between “major drug traffickers” and the director of Venezuela’s National Anti-Drug Office.
She is scheduled to appear in court in New York on Monday (5 Jan 2026 GMT+7).
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