US judge sets 2027 trial date for Venezuela’s Maduro and wife

What the report says

Al Jazeera, with reporting from The Associated Press, reported that a US federal judge in New York has scheduled a June 1, 2027, trial for former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Judge Alvin Hellerstein set the date during a brief hearing on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at which neither defendant spoke. Both have pleaded not guilty to US drug trafficking charges and are challenging the legitimacy of the proceedings.

The case follows a January 2026 US military operation in Caracas in which Maduro and Flores were taken into US custody, according to the report. The Trump administration has described the action as a targeted law-enforcement operation tied to an indictment first brought years earlier. Al Jazeera reported that many international legal scholars have called the operation illegal, while Venezuelan authorities say 83 people were killed in the attack.

Maduro faces four counts, including narco-terrorism conspiracy and conspiracy to import cocaine, and could receive a life sentence if convicted. His lawyer, Barry Pollack, said he plans to contest the case first on sovereign-immunity grounds and also expects to challenge the legality of the US operation that brought Maduro to trial. Neither Maduro nor Flores has sought bail, and the trial date was set at the request of lawyers for both sides.

The case matters because it combines criminal drug allegations with unusually sensitive questions about state sovereignty, military force and the prosecution of a former foreign leader in a US court. Al Jazeera reported that Venezuela is now led by interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who has moved the country closer to US interests.