Early Saturday, along with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, his wife and top adviser, Cilia Flores, was captured. The two were taken from their bedroom by US troops. The couple were quickly flown out of the country to face trial on drug trafficking charges from the US.
“Cilita“, as Maduro calls her, has been first lady for more than a decade - although in the official jargon of the socialist movement known as Chavismo, she is referred to as “the first fighter“. She has been Maduro's partner for over 30 years, during which time she has built her own political capital and is considered one of the most influential women in Venezuela.
Cilia Flores, born in 1956 in the city of Tinacillo in central Venezuela, grew up in working-class neighborhoods in western Caracas. She met Maduro, who often emphasizes her humble origins, in the early days of the Chavista movement.
A lawyer specializing in labor and criminal law, she provided legal assistance to Hugo Chavez, the namesake of the movement, and other military officers captured after an attempted 1992 overthrow of then-President Carlos Andrés Pérez.
Maduro, for his part, also campaigned for Chavez's release and was on the then-lieutenant colonel's security team, CNN reported.
“During the struggle to free Chavez, we participated in street activities. I always remember a meeting in Catia and when a young man wanted to speak, he spoke, and I just watched him. I said, "How smart," Flores recalled in November 2023, when the first episode of Maduro's podcast aired.
They have remained inseparable ever since, but Flores has forged her own political path. She was elected to her first term as a member of the National Assembly in 2000, the year after Chávez was elected president. She won a seat again in 2005, and a year later became the first woman to preside over the parliament, succeeding Maduro, who became Chavez's foreign minister.
During her term, she banned journalists from entering the legislative chamber. She has also been criticized for hiring dozens of relatives as congressional staff. In an interview with the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, she said that the complaint was never formally filed and that it was a smear campaign, but confirmed the appointments: “Yes, my family members were hired based on their own merits; I am proud of them and will defend their work when necessary.“
A staunch defender of Chávez
Between 2009 and 2011, she was also second vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, then led by Chávez, who in 2012 appointed Flores as attorney general.
Together with Maduro, who was already vice president, she visited Chávez in Cuba, where he was being treated for cancer in the last months of his life. Her Twitter account, when she created it in 2015, read "Daughter of Chávez," although she changed it to "Chavista" a few years later.
Flores and Maduro, who met after Chávez surrendered following his failed coup attempt in 1992, married in July 2013, after two decades together and shortly after Maduro won the presidential election against then-opposition candidate Henrique Capriles.
"She has considerable political experience. When she becomes first lady, she takes a back seat. But for many, she is the power behind the throne or a top advisor, [t] [t] [t] [t] [t] [t] "When they got married, she lowered her profile considerably. She hardly made any public statements, she didn't compete for attention, she took a step back," she added.
According to Arteaga, Flores' support and advice would have been essential during those years when Chavismo was going through internal disputes over Chavez's succession. Maduro, anointed by the then president, was still consolidating his leadership over other prominent figures.
In this circle, few women had held high-ranking positions. For Arteaga, "there was no doubt" that Flores was the most powerful woman in the country, at least as long as Chavismo remained in power.
Exercising power behind the scenes
Political scientist Estefania Reyes told CNN that it is difficult to quantify her power because she exercises it “behind the scenes“ and it is not institutionalized. “It is dangerous not to understand the dynamics of decision-making because it makes it difficult to ensure accountability and transparency regarding influence,” she said. If there ever was a dual leadership, it was never formalized, unlike in Nicaragua between President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo.
Reyes also pointed out that Flores has appeared in recent years in a supporting role as a mother figure, seeking to connect more with the public than as a figure in electoral competition.
For years, the position of first lady had not been used in Venezuela, since Chávez was divorced. When Maduro took power, he dubbed Flores the “first fighter”, claiming that “first lady” is an “aristocratic concept“.
In this regard, Reyes noted that despite the informal change of title, the position continues to be associated, as in other countries, with causes such as child protection and the leadership of charitable organizations.
Political scientist Nastasya Rojas, a professor of human rights at the University of Xaveriana in Colombia, agreed. “What she is now designing is someone who is the partner of the president, who accompanies him. "In recent years, they have completely changed her profile," she told CNN.
Nephews Convicted in the U.S.
With fewer appearances since Maduro's government took office, Flores has only appeared on one of the many radio shows hosted by ruling party figures, entitled "With Celia in the Family."
But her name returned to the headlines in 2015 when two of her nephews were arrested on drug trafficking charges by undercover U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents in Haiti. Flores called the incident a kidnapping, but both were tried and sentenced in New York to 18 years in prison for conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States. In 2022, they were released in a prisoner swap between Caracas and Washington.
She was also sanctioned in 2018 by Canadian authorities, along with 13 other officials, the day after the Organization of American States reported that Maduro's government had committed crimes against humanity.
A few months later, the U.S. Treasury Department added its own sanctions, explaining in a press release that Maduro "relies on his inner circle to stay in power." In response, Maduro said: "If you want to attack me, attack me. Don't mess with Celia. Don't mess with the family. Don't be cowards." Her only crime is that she is my wife.
By this time, Flores had returned to the Legislative Palace, having been elected in 2017 to the Constituent Assembly and in 2021 as a deputy to the National Assembly, a position she held at the time of her capture.
During the 2024 presidential campaign that led to Maduro's contested re-election, Flores accompanied her husband to several events, even dancing with him on stage.