Cilia Flores Requests Transfer to Manhattan Residence Amid Worsening Cardiac Health

Venezuela’s former first lady, Cilia Flores de Maduro, has petitioned a judge to lift her federal detention in the United States, requesting release under home confinement in Manhattan due to a worsening heart condition.

In a pre‑trial motion filed on Wednesday, her legal counsel urged the court to allow Flores to await trial in separate housing rather than a custodial setting.

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The filing details a dramatic decline in the former first lady’s health since the January 3 military operation that resulted in her abduction from Caracas and subsequent arrest in New York. This deterioration extends to her husband, former President Nicolas Maduro.

Previously physically robust, Miss Flores required minimal medication—chiefly a monthly injection to manage her mitral valve prolapse—before her health became precarious. Now, she is described as being under multiple prescriptions, including nitroglycerin for acute symptoms and blood‑thinners, while facing recommendations for urgent cardiac intervention.

Flores spent several months leading the National Assembly and serving as Vice President of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) before assuming the role of First Lady in 2013 after Maduro’s election.

Their legal strategy centers on the claim that the conditions of US detention are incompatible with sustaining proper medical care for complex heart defects. Flower argues that without a dedicated healthcare presence and stabilization, she risks permanent neurological damage or death during any necessary invasive procedures.

Advocated by outside medical experts, her lawyers contend that a county jail or detention center lacks the infrastructure to support complex cardiac care such as stents or bypass surgeries.

Consequently, Flores’s counsel proposes a drastic reprieve: transferring her from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn to a private residence located within the Manhattan federal judicial district, where she and their co‑defendant are slated for trial next June.

The proposed relocation seeks to move Flores from the restrictive parameters of mandatory housing to a home‑detained setting, subject only to constant security oversight. Under this arrangement, her movements would be logged, and residents were recorded, with the belief that this separation would give her time to stabilize her cardiovascular system and prepare for future legal proceedings.

As of Thursday morning, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein has not issued a ruling on the pre‑trial release motion.

Both Flores, now 69, and Maduro, 63, have remained under federal vigilance since their forced removal from the Caracas home in January. Having pleaded not guilty, they continue to contest the drug‑trafficking and conspiracy charges against them.