Deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro said he is doing well in a message published Saturday on social media, the first since he was captured and transferred to the United States to face trial on drug trafficking charges. Maduro was detained by U.S. forces during a military incursion on January 3 that included bombings in Caracas.
He is being held along with his wife, Cilia Flores, who was also detained in that operation, in a maximum-security prison in Brooklyn. “We are well, strong, calm, and in constant prayer,” Maduro wrote on the eve of Holy Week, a date of deep spiritual importance in this predominantly Catholic country.
“We have received your messages, your emails, your letters, and your prayers,” he added. “Every word of love, every gesture of affection, every expression of support fills our souls and strengthens us spiritually.” Maduro is being held in isolation in a cell without internet or newspapers, with access to the yard for one hour a day. A source close to the former leader said that he is allowed to speak by phone with his family and lawyers for a maximum of 15 minutes.
It is not clear whether Maduro dictated the message to his team or approved its content, although it is in fact signed jointly by him and Flores. The deposed ruler appeared Thursday with Flores before a federal court in New York, where the judge rejected a defense request to dismiss the charges.
The message was published on X and the messaging platform Telegram, where until now only a daily count of the days of “kidnapping” had appeared. His son, Nicolás Maduro Guerra, known as Nicolasito, has said at public events that his father is well, calm, and was even exercising in prison.
Delcy Rodríguez, who assumed power on an interim basis after Maduro’s fall, had not echoed the message until now. Neither had most of her ministers. Rodríguez governs under pressure from Donald Trump and has shifted course to move closer to Washington. She has also dismantled much of Maduro’s government structure in nearly three months.
The interim leader also made no mention of the New York trial in her latest television appearances. Only on Friday did she ask for prayers for Maduro and Flores during an event with evangelical Christians, who are very close to the ousted ruler.
