Cilia Flores, the wife of Venezuela’s ousted leader Nicolas Maduro, is asking to leave a New York detention facility and serve her confinement under house arrest, arguing that serious heart problems require urgent medical attention. The couple faces drug trafficking charges in the United States.
Before US forces captured her in January, Flores “was in good health and was not taking any long-term medication, with the exception of a monthly injection,” her lawyer, Mark Donnelly, said in a court filing.
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Now held with her husband in a federal jail in Brooklyn as they await trial, the 69-year-old is suffering from significant cardiac problems that may require a coronary angiogram or surgery, according to her defence team.
Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were seized by the United States during a raid in Caracas
Donnelly said the conditions of Flores’s detention were preventing her from receiving adequate medical treatment. He is seeking her release to house arrest in the United States, subject to strict restrictions.
Maduro, 63, and Flores were captured by US forces during a raid in Caracas and have remained in custody since 3 January.
Prosecutors accuse the pair of helping smuggle tons of cocaine into the United States.
Both have denied the allegations. Maduro has also told the court that he is a “prisoner of war” held by the United States.
