In a dramatic escalation of US action against alleged narco-terrorism networks in Latin America, ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has been brought to the United States and produced before a federal
court in Manhattan on charges of drug trafficking and weapons offences. The move has triggered sharp international criticism and renewed debate over the US’ approach to foreign leaders accused of major crimes.
Maduro is accused of using Venezuela’s military and intelligence apparatus to facilitate the shipment of large quantities of cocaine into the United States through secret airstrips. He also faces charges of possessing and conspiring to use machine guns and other destructive weapons, bolstering the US case against him. Maduro has denied all charges, insisting he is innocent. He and his wife, Cilia Flores, are being held separately in solitary confinement.
Several governments, including Russia and China, have condemned the US operation. Criticism has also come from within the United States, where political leaders have questioned the apparent inconsistency of the administration’s stance on drug-linked prosecutions, particularly in light of former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez’s recent pardon.
Hernandez, who was sentenced to 45 years in prison by a US court for drug trafficking and weapons offences, was pardoned in December by Donald Trump. Trump described Hernandez as a victim of political persecution who had been treated unfairly, later comparing the case to what he characterised as politically motivated actions against himself. “He was the country’s leader and was unfairly targeted,” Trump said.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sharply criticised the move, writing on X that pardoning Hernandez, who prosecutors said helped move more than 400 tonnes of cocaine into the United States, amounted to “pure hypocrisy” if the rationale for US intervention in Venezuela was drug trafficking. Pelosi noted that Hernandez had already been convicted by a US jury, while Maduro is only now being brought to trial.
Investigations into both Maduro and Hernandez reportedly began around the same period and were handled by the same US Drug Enforcement Administration team. Hernandez was arrested and extradited shortly after leaving office in 2022. Prosecutors alleged that he accepted a $1 million bribe from notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman during his first presidential campaign, in exchange for safeguarding cocaine routes through Honduras.
During a three-week trial in 2024, US prosecutors described Honduras under Hernandez as a “narco-state”, alleging that traffickers operated with protection from security forces, including the national police, and supplied millions of dollars to Hernandez’s political machinery. He denied the charges, calling the prosecution politically motivated.
Reports also suggest Hernandez wrote a four-page letter to Trump in October appealing for clemency, while longtime Trump ally Roger Stone is said to have backed the pardon to support Honduras’s ruling National Party. The pardon, which Trump later defended as a response to what he called a “Biden witch hunt”, reportedly surprised even some of his close advisers.
By stark contrast, Maduro and Flores were seized in Caracas during a US commando operation dubbed “Operation Absolute Resolve” and flown to New York, where they now face narco-terrorism and cocaine-trafficking conspiracy charges. Prosecutors allege Maduro was part of a broader drug network spanning Venezuela, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico, with traffickers allegedly paying politicians, including Hernandez, in exchange for protection.
