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Cilia Flores de Maduro, the former first lady of Venezuela, has formally petitioned a United States federal judge to grant her release from a detention facility and place her under home confinement, citing a sharply deteriorating heart condition that her legal representatives argue cannot be adequately managed behind bars.
The pre-trial release motion was submitted on Wednesday on behalf of the 69-year-old former Venezuelan official, who is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York. Her defense team has requested that she be permitted to reside under strict residential monitoring in Manhattan while she awaits her upcoming federal trial.
According to the legal filing, Flores’s health has suffered a marked downturn since she was taken into US custody alongside her husband, former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Both were apprehended in Caracas on January 3 during a US military operation that resulted in their forced removal from Venezuela and subsequent transfer to New York City to face criminal prosecution.
Defense attorneys highlighted the dramatic contrast between Flores’s current health status and her physical condition prior to her capture. Court documents state that before the US military operation, Flores was in good general health and successfully managed an underlying mitral valve prolapse with nothing more than a single routine monthly injection.
However, since her imprisonment in New York, Flores has reportedly been unable to receive the specialized monthly injection required to regulate the heart valve condition. Instead, medical staff at the facility have placed her on a regimen of four different medications—including a statin, baby aspirin, and diltiazem—while instructing her to keep nitroglycerin on hand at all times for use during acute chest pain or a potential heart attack.
The urgency of the bail request follows an evaluation by independent medical professionals. After reviewing her clinical records, outside medical experts consulted by her legal defense concluded that Flores likely suffered an undetected minor heart attack on July 29 while held in US custody.
Furthermore, medical professionals have formally advised that Flores undergo an invasive coronary exploration procedure, which could potentially necessitate additional heart surgery. Her attorneys emphasized that should she undergo such medical interventions, she will require an extended, stable, and clinically appropriate environment to properly recuperate.
The court motion makes clear that Flores does not challenge the quality of care provided by the medical staff treating her, acknowledging that she has received excellent attention from healthcare personnel. Nevertheless, the filing asserts that a federal detention center inherently lacks the physical conditions and supportive environment necessary for post-operative cardiovascular rehabilitation.
To address potential concerns regarding flight risk or public safety, the defense team proposed extensive, highly restrictive conditions for her requested transfer to a Manhattan residence. Under the proposal, Flores would be placed under round-the-clock armed monitoring, continuous video surveillance, and recorded telephone lines, with personal visits restricted exclusively to individuals pre-approved by federal prosecutors and the court.
Flores and her 63-year-old husband have been incarcerated in New York since the January military raid on their residence in the Venezuelan capital. Both defendants have entered formal pleas of not guilty to federal charges alleging their participation in a conspiracy to traffic cocaine into the United States, along with related weapons offenses.
The couple is scheduled to stand trial together next June in Manhattan federal court. The high-profile legal proceedings follow years of intense diplomatic and geopolitical friction between Caracas and the administration of US President Donald Trump, who repeatedly accused the Venezuelan leadership of facilitating illicit narcotics shipments into the US and carrying out human rights abuses, including the violent suppression of political opponents.
Before her detention, Flores held a prominent and influential role in Venezuela's political apparatus. In addition to serving as first lady since Maduro’s initial presidential inauguration in 2013, she served as a key figure within the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and led the country’s National Assembly for more than four years.
US District Judge Alvin K Hellerstein has not yet issued a ruling on the pre-trial release application. The court's decision will determine whether Flores will be transferred to a heavily guarded Manhattan residence to undergo medical procedures or remain at the Brooklyn detention facility as the defense prepares for next year’s trial.
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