EFE.- The United States rejects the argument that Nicolás Maduro is entitled to immunity in the criminal case he faces in New York and maintains that Venezuela has not claimed such protection for the former president. However, it has requested it for interim President Delcy Rodríguez.
In a memorandum filed last Friday night before Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, U.S. prosecutors state that “Venezuela has not asserted” that Maduro or his wife, Cilia Flores, are immune from the criminal proceedings brought against them in the United States “or in any other proceeding” pending in the country.
The U.S. government contrasts that situation with Rodríguez’s, whose immunity Caracas has claimed, and Washington has recognized.
According to the court filing, on May 14, the Venezuelan Embassy submitted a diplomatic note conveying a formal request from the Venezuelan government for the United States to grant Rodríguez immunity as head of state in the civil case Kenemore v. Maduro, filed in Florida, in which both Rodríguez and Maduro are named as defendants.
Then, on July 20, the United States informed the Florida court that Rodríguez was Venezuela’s head of state and therefore enjoyed immunity from the lawsuit.
Prosecutors added that Venezuela did not request immunity for Maduro in that case either.
The question of immunity has become one of the main fronts in Maduro’s legal battle since U.S. forces captured him in Caracas on January 3 and transferred him to New York along with Flores to face drug trafficking, weapons, and narco-terrorism conspiracy charges.
U.S. forces detained both of them following a military operation that culminated in their transfer to New York. Maduro pleaded not guilty to the charges and remains in custody at a Brooklyn jail while seeking to have the indictment dismissed.
His defense argues that Maduro should receive the immunity afforded to a head of state. Prosecutors, however, say the United States stopped recognizing Maduro as Venezuela’s president in January 2019 and has never changed that position.
The filing states that Washington formally recognized Rodríguez’s government on March 7, 2026, after Maduro’s capture.
Prosecutors further argue that courts must give “absolute deference” to the U.S. executive branch’s determination of who it recognizes as a head of state and that Maduro cannot benefit from immunity.
The U.S. government is therefore asking Judge Hellerstein to deny Maduro and Flores’ motions to dismiss the indictment. The immunity hearing is scheduled for November 17, while the trial is set for June 2027.
In addition, Flores is scheduled to appear before Hellerstein on Thursday this week for a hearing on her request to be transferred to home confinement on health grounds.
