Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, asked a federal judge Wednesday to dismiss the narco-terrorism, drug-trafficking and firearms case against them, claiming sovereign immunity despite the United States’ refusal to recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate president since 2019.
The current superseding indictment charges Maduro with narco-terrorism conspiracy. It charges both Maduro and Flores with cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess them. Both have pleaded not guilty.
The immunity battle follows two December 2025 exclusives from The Dallas Express detailing allegations from Maduro’s former military insiders about the regime’s purported narco-terrorism network and ties to Tren de Aragua.
As The Dallas Express previously reported, former Venezuelan military-intelligence chief Hugo Carvajal Barrios wrote President Donald Trump in December 2025 alleging that Maduro’s government operated as a narco-terrorist organization targeting the United States.
Carvajal had pleaded guilty in the same federal case to narco-terrorism, cocaine-importation and related weapons charges. DX did not independently verify all claims in his letter.
A second exclusive published days later detailed a letter from retired Venezuelan Major General Clíver Alcalá Cordones alleging that Maduro expanded and exported Tren de Aragua beyond Venezuela.
Alcalá, another co-defendant in the case, pleaded guilty to providing material support to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. DX likewise identified his broader assertions as unverified allegations.
Maduro invokes head-of-state immunity
Maduro’s attorneys argued that U.S. courts cannot prosecute a foreign leader whom his own country recognized as its sitting head of state when prosecutors brought the charges, Politico reported.
His lawyers described head-of-state immunity as a centuries-old principle of international and common law. They also argued that U.S. recognition is not required and that Maduro remained, at minimum, Venezuela’s de facto head of state.
The U.S. government stopped recognizing Maduro as Venezuela’s president in 2019 after rejecting the legitimacy of the country’s 2018 election. It also called his claimed 2024 reelection fraudulent. Maduro has maintained that both elections were legitimate.
U.S. courts generally defer to the executive branch when deciding whom the country recognizes as a foreign leader, Reuters reported. A federal judge rejected former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega’s head-of-state immunity claim in 1990, partly because Noriega never officially held the title of president.
Maduro’s attorneys argue that his case differs because Venezuela recognized him as its leader.
Defense raises conduct-based immunity claim
Maduro’s attorneys offered a second argument if U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein rejects head-of-state immunity. They contend that conduct-based sovereign immunity protects acts Maduro allegedly performed in an official capacity through Venezuelan state institutions.
The defense cited the Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling in Trump v. United States, which addressed criminal immunity for a former U.S. president’s official acts. Maduro’s lawyers argue that courts likewise cannot treat an act as unofficial solely because prosecutors allege an improper motive.
Flores files separate immunity claim
Flores’ attorneys filed a separate dismissal motion claiming that she receives sovereign immunity as the spouse of a head of state, the Associated Press reported.
“It is an attribute of Venezuela’s sovereignty, and only Venezuela may surrender it,” her attorneys wrote.
Trial scheduled for June 2027
U.S. forces captured Maduro and Flores at their Caracas home on January 3 and brought them to New York during an operation that the Trump administration described as a “surgical law enforcement operation.” Federal authorities continue to hold both defendants at a Brooklyn jail.
Maduro called his capture a kidnapping and described himself as a prisoner of war during his arraignment, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Prosecutors must respond to Maduro’s motion by October 2. Hellerstein scheduled oral arguments for November 17 and set the trial to begin June 1, 2027. A conviction could expose both Maduro and Flores to life in prison.
Provided by Dallas Express
