Who is Cilia Flores, Maduro’s wife and “first combatant” of Chavismo

His face in our country was practically unknown. Until this Saturday. She is the wife of and one of the most influential figures within Chavismo. For years it has been presented by the Venezuelan Government as the “first combatant”a term that was replaced by first lady.

Both she and the Venezuelan president have been captured by the United States and are now charged with conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. This is everything that is known about the first Venezuelan fighter.

Right hand of Hugo Chávez and wife of Nicolás Maduro

Flores was born in 1956 in Tinaquillo, in the state of Cojedes, and grew up in neighborhoods in western Caracas. She is a lawyer, with training in labor and criminal law. His connection with Chavismo began in the early 1990s, when he provided legal support to Hugo Chávez and other soldiers involved in the 1992 coup d’état attempt. In that same environment he met Maduro, who was then participating in political and security activities linked to Chávez.

She herself remembered that first contact years later. “On that journey to liberate Chávez we were involved in street activities. I always remember an assembly in Catia and when a boy asked to speak, he spoke and I stared. I said ‘how clever,” he stated, according to the BBC.

She was elected deputy in 2000 and, in 2006, became the first woman to preside over the National Assembly. During her administration she was accused of hiring relatives in Parliament.

She also held important positions within the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and was appointed Attorney General of the Republic in 2012. After the death of Chávez, she accompanied Maduro in the process of transition and consolidation of power within Chavismo.

The couple married in July 2013, shortly after Maduro won the presidential election.s. From then on, Flores reduced his public presence, although some analysts cited by the BBC She has been described as a key figure in her husband’s decision-making.

His name made international headlines again in 2015, when two of his nephews were arrested and convicted in the United States for drug trafficking crimes. Flores described that episode as a kidnapping, although both were tried in New York and released in 2022 in a prisoner exchange.

Flores has been sanctioned by Canada and the United States. After one of these sanctions, Maduro came to his defense. “If you want to attack me, attack me, don’t mess with Cilia, don’t mess with the family, don’t be cowards. Your only crime is being my wife,” he stated at that time.

Finally, in recent years, Flores returned to occupy a seat in the National Assembly and in fact accompanied Maduro on occasion to some of his official events and electoral campaigns.