January 4, 2026 | 08:26 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro faces the possibility of four life sentences in a criminal indictment filed in the United States (US), according to court documents as reported by Sputnik and quoted by Antara.
US Attorney General Pamela Bondi said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, will soon stand trial in the Southern District Court of New York.
In March 2020, Maduro and several alleged co-conspirators were indicted in four cases.
The charges include conspiracy related to narcoterrorism, cocaine smuggling into the United States, and the use and possession of machine guns and explosives in narcoterrorism activities.
Additionally, Maduro is also charged with conspiring to possess and use these weapons and explosives.
Each indictment carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Earlier on the same day, US President Donald Trump claimed that his troops had launched a large-scale attack on Venezuela.
Trump also announced that Maduro and his wife had been abducted and taken out of Venezuela.
Pardoning Former Honduran President
However, the drug charges against Maduro angered many parties. This is because, on December 16, Trump pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernndez, who had previously been convicted in a U.S. court on similar drug trafficking charges.
As reported by Axios, Trump's drug war has been sensational, but not always focused on the drug trafficking routes into the United States.
The US captured Maduro overnight after weeks of diplomatic and military pressure, sending a large fleet off the coast of Venezuela and repeatedly sinking ships suspected of carrying narcotics near its waters.
Venezuela is a transit point for cocaine heading to the US, although the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) says most of it enters through Mexico. Most of the cocaine reaching the US is cultivated in Colombia, Venezuela's neighbor.
Venezuela is not a significant source of fentanyl, although Trump also claimed to be targeting fentanyl shipments. The fentanyl supply chain usually flows from China, through Mexico, to the US.
Even Maduro's indictment did not mention fentanyl, although Trump has openly discussed it.
The US war on drugs against Venezuela is suspected to be about ideology, not drugs.
Maduro has been at odds with the US and Trump personally for a decade.
Meanwhile, Hernandez, who is serving a 45-year prison sentence for smuggling drugs into the US, wrote a glowing letter to Trump asking for a pardon, comparing his own case to the "persecution and prosecution that you face."
Trump pardoned Hernandez, dismissing the conviction as a "Biden setup."
The White House did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment on this news.
Read: Why Trump Wants to Push Venezuela's Maduro Out of Power
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