Who is Cilia Flores, the powerbroker captured alongside Maduro?
Genevieve Glatsky
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Bogota, Colombia: When news broke that the United States had captured and charged Venezuela’s long-time authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro, another name emerged alongside him, surprising some observers: his wife, Cilia Flores.
More than a First Lady, Flores is one of Venezuela’s most powerful political figures. Operating largely from the shadows, he wielded extraordinary influence for decades.
According to journalists, analysts and former officials, Flores shaped a judicial system in which nearly every major decision passed through him and united state institutions with relatives and loyalists. They also stated that his family had a huge unexplained fortune.
Flores, a lawyer from lower-middle-class backgrounds, began his political rise in the 1990s and became close to former president Hugo Chavez, Maduro’s mentor and predecessor, who was imprisoned after a failed coup attempt in 1992.
He steadily climbed the ranks of Chavez’s socialist movement known as Chavismo and became a central figure in the Venezuelan legislature.
Flores and Maduro have been partners since at least the late 1990s, when they were both lawmakers. They married in 2013, when he was president. Following Chavez’s death, he was seen as a critical figure in consolidating and maintaining Maduro’s rule, ensuring a loyal political base and deep institutional influence.
Venezuelan investigative journalist Roberto Deniz, who has reported extensively on the Flores family, said that they inspire both respect and fear in Chavismo.
“He is a fundamental figure, absolutely a fundamental figure, in corruption in Venezuela and especially in the power structure,” said Zair Mundaray, who worked as a senior prosecutor under Chavez and Maduro.
‘He’s basically been running the country together since he came to power and in many ways he’s the strategy or the force behind the throne.’
Risa Grais-Targow, Eurasia Group consultant
“Many people think he is much smarter and more cunning than Maduro.”
In an interview published in the Spanish newspaper LaVanguardia In 2013, Flores called himself a “fighter” and defended hiring his relatives.
“My family entered based on their own values,” he said. “I am proud of them and will defend their work as long as necessary.”
Although Flores stopped holding official government positions after 2013, he retained behind-the-scenes authority. He is frequently described as one of the key architects of Maduro’s political survival.
Deniz said, “They know, perhaps more than the public, the real power that Cilia Flores has within Chavismo.”
Flores is also widely believed to have had a decisive influence on Venezuela’s justice system. Many judges and senior officials are thought to be loyal to him or placed through his networks. It is thought that the judiciary, which has not made a single decision against the state for more than twenty years, has become completely politicized.
Deniz said, “This is a completely politicized, flawed, corrupt judicial system, and Cilia Flores bears great responsibility for making the Venezuelan judicial system this way.”
Investigative journalists have documented widespread corruption involving the Maduro-Flores family, including misuse of public funds and business ties to sanctioned foreign businessmen. An investigation showed that the family had effectively taken over an entire street of luxury homes in the country’s capital, Caracas.
In the federal indictment unsealed Saturday, Flores, along with her husband and son, were accused of collaborating with drug traffickers.
“He’s basically been co-running the country since he came to power, and in many ways he’s the strategy or the power behind the throne,” said Risa Grais-Targow, Latin America director at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group. “It was the key to its enduring strength, but also now its downfall.”
