Who is Cilia Flores, the lawyer wife of Nicolás Maduro, whom Trump has also detained?

According to President Donald Trump, Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were detained and removed from Venezuela following a U.S. military operation. Trump announced the action on his Truth Social account, sending shockwaves through diplomatic and political circles.

How did Cilia Flores and Maduro meet?

Flores’ relationship with Maduro dates back to the 1990s, during the formative years of Venezuela’s Bolivarian movement. At the time, she was a defense attorney leading the legal team for Hugo Chávez, the former army officer who led a failed coup and was later pardoned in 1994. Maduro, meanwhile, was a labor union leader rising through leftist political ranks.

Flores was the one who introduced Chávez to Maduro, linking two men who would go on to define modern Venezuelan politics. Around that same period, Flores and Maduro began a romantic relationship that would last more than two decades before culminating in marriage.

When did Maduro and Flores get married? Do they have children?

When Flores and Maduro married in 2013, it was not the first marriage for either of them. Maduro had previously married Adriana Guerra in 1988, and the couple had one son, Nicolás Maduro Guerra, widely known in Venezuela as “Nicolasito.”

Flores had been married to Gavidia Rodríguez, with whom she had three children. Those children have maintained close ties to Maduro and have often been seen as part of the extended family network surrounding the presidency.

Political militant rather than ceremonial spouse

Flores has always projected herself as a committed political militant rather than a ceremonial spouse. She became the first woman to serve as president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, holding the post from 2006 to 2011. In 2012, she was appointed attorney general of the republic, further consolidating her influence within the state.

After marrying Maduro, Flores rejected the traditional title of first lady. Instead, she adopted the designation “First Combatant of the Republic,” a symbolic move intended to underline her active role in political decision-making and her importance within the government.

Venezuela’s “dual presidency”

Over the years, Flores has been surrounded by controversy. Critics have argued that her relationship with Maduro amounts to a form of dual presidency, with Flores acting as the regime’s legal and judicial strategist while Maduro serves as its public face.

She has also faced sustained criticism over allegations of nepotism, particularly regarding the appointment of family members to government posts. Additionally, her name has been linked to corruption allegations involving her children and her nephew, Carlos Erik Malpica, further fueling scrutiny of her role within Venezuela’s ruling elite.

Now, with her detention reportedly confirmed by the U.S. president himself, Cilia Flores’ long and controversial political trajectory has entered its most dramatic chapter yet.

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