NEW YORK — Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are asking a US judge to dismiss the drug-trafficking charges against them, arguing that Maduro was protected by head-of-state immunity when the case was brought.
Maduro’s lawyers made the argument in a filing in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday. They said a foreign leader cannot be prosecuted in a US court if he was recognised by his own government as the country’s sitting president when the charges were filed.
“No American court has ever presided over the criminal trial of a foreign leader who was recognised by their own country as the sitting head of state at the time the charges were brought,” the lawyers wrote.
Flores filed her own motion. Her lawyers said sovereign immunity belongs to Venezuela and that only the Venezuelan state can waive it.
Both have pleaded not guilty.
US prosecutors accuse Maduro of taking part in a long-running conspiracy to move cocaine into the United States, allegedly working with Venezuelan officials and drug traffickers. The indictment was brought in 2020 and names several other Venezuelan officials as alleged co-conspirators.
Maduro’s lawyers have rejected the allegations. They say he would be acquitted if the case went to trial.
The immunity argument puts an awkward question before the court: whether Maduro can claim the protection normally given to a sitting foreign head of state when the US government did not recognise him as Venezuela’s legitimate president.
Washington stopped recognising Maduro as president in 2019, after rejecting his victory in Venezuela’s 2018 election. The US also disputed his claim to have won the country’s 2024 presidential election.
US courts generally give the executive branch wide latitude on questions involving recognition of foreign governments and their leaders. How that principle applies to Maduro’s case will be central to the arguments over his immunity.
Maduro was captured in Caracas in January and taken to the United States to face the charges. He has called his detention a kidnapping and denied the US allegations.
The Trump administration has defended the operation as a law-enforcement action.
Since Maduro’s removal, Delcy Rodríguez, who had served as vice president, has taken over the Venezuelan government. Her administration has since moved towards closer relations with Washington, including cooperation involving Venezuela’s oil industry.
US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein is scheduled to hear arguments on the motions on Nov. 17. Prosecutors are due to respond to Maduro’s filing by Oct. 2.
Unless the judge dismisses the case, Maduro and Flores are scheduled to go on trial on June 1, 2027. The charges carry a potential life sentence.
