Who is Nicolás Maduro?

Who is Nicolas Maduro?

Last weekend, the US captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in an overnight military raid, and he's now facing criminal charges in New York. It's a story that's been dominating world news, and it raises a lot of questions. So in this Squiz Shortcut, we’ll take a look at:

• a brief history of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores;

• why the US has beef with them;

• and what might happen next for Venezuela.

Prefer to listen or watch?

Listen to Claire Kimball and Andrew Williams cover this topic in this Squiz Shortcut podcast episode, or check it out on YouTube - and hit subscribe while you’re at it.

Listen/watch time: 16 minutes

Squiz the Shortcut

This was big, big news…
Yep, no slow news start to 2026, that’s for sure.

So what happened?
US forces went into Venezuela on Saturday US time, after months of agitation from US President Donald Trump. They seized Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores from their home in the nation's capital Caracas, flew them out of the country, and he appeared in a New York courtroom on Monday, where he called himself a "kidnapped president" and a "prisoner of war". The judge basically told him there'd be a time and place for all that.

So who is Maduro, and why is the US so interested in him?
He's been Venezuela's president since 2013, when he took over from Hugo Chávez after he died of cancer. We should probably pause there for a sec and talk about Chávez…

I’ve heard the name…
Chávez rose from a military officer and socialist organiser to a dominant figure in Latin American politics. He called his movement the ‘Bolivarian Revolution’, named after his hero Simón Bolívar, who liberated South America from Spanish rule. Bolivar wanted to unite Latin American countries to make them strong enough to stand up to the United States.

How did Chávez come to power?
He orchestrated 2 failed coups in 1992 that led to a 2-year imprisonment, but he ultimately became president in 1998, and his administration gained immense domestic and regional popularity by leveraging Venezuela's oil wealth to fund extensive social programs for food, health, and education. But he also changed Venezuela from a democracy to what's been described as a largely authoritarian system.

So that's Chávez… Back to Maduro, how did he rise to power?
He was a bus driver who rose through the ranks of Chávez's socialist movement to become foreign minister and then vice president. Maduro assumed the presidency after Chávez's death and won the 2013 special presidential election.

What's Maduro’s track record been like?
Unlike his predecessor, who used charisma and oil wealth to stay in office, Maduro's presidency was defined by a spectacular economic collapse, hyperinflation, and a shift toward what many international observers called a dictatorship. He faced elections in 2013, 2018 and 2024 - and they were widely condemned as shams. In those last 2, the major opposition parties were banned or boycotted the vote, leading to a record-low turnout.

So… not great.
Exactly… Which is why the US and heaps of other countries refused to recognise him as the legitimate leader of Venezuela. The Americans have had him in their sights for a while. Back in 2020, he was first indicted on drug trafficking charges. The Trump administration has painted him as the head of something called the ‘Cartel of the Suns’ - or Cartel de los Soles in Spanish.

What are the specific charges against him?
The new indictment includes ‘narco-terrorism’ conspiracy, cocaine importation, and weapons charges. It names 6 defendants - Maduro, his wife, his son, and the leader of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. It alleges connections to Colombian rebel groups and Mexican cartels, including Sinaloa and Los Zetas.

What are some of the specific allegations?
They include an allegation that while Maduro was foreign minister between 2006 and 2008, he sold Venezuelan diplomatic passports to drug traffickers - to help them move drug money from Mexico back to Venezuela under diplomatic cover. There's also an allegation that after 1.3 tonnes of cocaine were seized at Paris airport from a Venezuelan commercial flight, Maduro convened a high-level meeting to discuss drug trafficking routes.

Is this just a Trump thing?
No… There's been cross-party consensus in the US that Maduro is involved in drug trafficking. The Biden administration increased the bounty on Maduro from US$15 million to US$25 million. Trump then doubled it to US$50 million.

Can a foreign head of state even be put on trial in the US?
That's an interesting legal question… But the thing to remember is the US Government doesn't recognise Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate leader - they consider him an illegitimate dictator who stole elections.

What about his wife? Why was she arrested?
When Cilia Flores's name appeared in that indictment alongside her husband's, some people were surprised. But people who follow Venezuela closely weren't surprised at all. She's far more than just a first lady. Analysts describe her as one of Venezuela's most powerful political figures - someone who's been co-governing the country from the shadows.

Tell me more about her…
She's a lawyer from a lower-middle-class background who got her start in politics in the 1990s. She became close to Hugo Chávez while he was in prison after a failed coup attempt in 1992, and she steadily rose through the ranks of the movement.

And her relationship with Maduro?
She and Maduro have been partners since the late 90s, when they were both lawmakers. They married in 2013, the same year he became president. After Chávez died, she's credited with being critical to consolidating Maduro's grip on power. She's believed to have shaped the judicial system so that nearly every major decision ran through her, and she's embedded state institutions with relatives and loyalists.

What are the charges against her?
The indictment accuses her of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to broker meetings between drug traffickers and Venezuelan officials. Investigative journalists have documented corruption involving the family, and one analyst summed it up - she's been key to his staying power, but also now his downfall.

So what happens now in Venezuela?
Even with Maduro in US custody, the situation in Venezuela is far from resolved. His allies moved quickly… Venezuela's high court ordered Vice President Delcy Rodríguez to assume power as interim president within hours of the raid, and the military announced it would back her. She was formally sworn in this week.

Is she similar to Maduro?
Very much cut from the same cloth. Rodríguez has been Maduro's veep since 2018, and she's long been seen as his successor. She called Maduro's capture a "kidnapping" and said she took the oath "with pain" because of what she called "illegitimate military aggression." But later, she did signal some willingness to engage with the US, inviting them to cooperate within the framework of international law.

What's the situation like on the ground in Venezuela?
Experts have described the country as a "potential powder keg" and point to heavily armed groups - the national military, police, national guard, criminal gangs, civilian militias - all with their own interests. And keep in mind that Maduro had mobilised more than 200,000 military members before this happened, and encouraged the civilian militia to take up arms against any foreign attack. So there's real concern about the potential for violence.

What's the international response been to Maduro’s capture?
President Trump initially said the US would temporarily "run" Venezuela, though his administration walked that back. He's also made threats toward other Latin American countries - including suggesting military action against Colombia. That has a lot of countries nervous. The leaders of Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay, Spain and Colombia issued a joint statement rejecting the US action and affirming Latin America as a "zone of peace." And outside the region, there are concerns that countries like Russia and China might feel emboldened to act similarly in their own territorial disputes. Think Taiwan, for example…

Have they said anything?
China's Foreign Minister responded by saying Beijing wouldn't accept any country acting as the "world's judge." So lots of uncertainty ahead - both for the legal case and for Venezuela's future. It feels like we're just at the beginning of this story.

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Onto our Recommendations

Reading: The ABC's really good explainer on the different scenarios that could unfold in Venezuela…

Reading: And a piece from the New York Times on Cilia Flores - it goes deep into how she built her power behind the scenes over decades… You will need a subscription to read it, though.

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