Hello and welcome to the details of US eases sanctions to let Venezuela pay Maduro’s lawyer in narcoterrorism case and now with the details
Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is escorted, as he heads towards the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in Manhattan for an initial appearance to face US federal charges including narco-terrorism, conspiracy, drug trafficking, money laundering and others, at Downtown Manhattan Heliport, in New York City January 5, 2026. — Reuters pic
- Maduro captured in US military raid on Caracas in January
- Charges against him and his wife include narcoterrorism conspiracy
- Defence lawyers call restrictions on payments unconstitutional
WASHINGTON, April 25 — The United States has agreed to modify its sanctions on Venezuela to allow the South American country’s government to pay Nicolás Maduro’s defence lawyer, backing off a restriction that had threatened to derail the drug trafficking case against the ousted Venezuelan president, a court filing showed yesterday.
Maduro, 63, and his wife Cilia Flores, 69, were captured from their home in Caracas by US special forces on January 3 and brought to New York to face criminal charges including narcoterrorism conspiracy. They have pleaded not guilty and are jailed in Brooklyn pending trial.
Maduro’s lawyer Barry Pollack in February asked Manhattan-based US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein to dismiss the case because US sanctions were preventing the Venezuelan government from paying his legal fees.
Pollack said that prohibition amounted to a violation of Maduro’s rights under the US Constitution to the counsel of his choice.
Neither Maduro nor Flores can afford lawyers on their own, and the Venezuelan government is prepared to pay their fees, their lawyers have said.
All criminal defendants in the US have constitutional rights regardless of whether they are US citizens.
Hellerstein said in a March 26 court hearing that he did not intend to dismiss the case, but appeared skeptical that the government was justified in blocking the payments.
Prosecutor Kyle Wirshba said in court that the US sanctions blocking the payments were based on legitimate national security and foreign policy interests. Wirshba also said that Hellerstein could not order the Treasury Department to modify its sanctions because the executive branch, not the judiciary, is in charge of foreign policy.
Hellerstein noted that the US had relaxed sanctions on Venezuela since Maduro’s ouster. Relations between Caracas and Washington have improved since Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro’s former vice president, began leading Venezuela on an interim basis.
“The defendant is here, Flores is here. They present no further national security threat,” said Hellerstein, a judicial appointee of Democratic President Bill Clinton. “The right that’s implicated, paramount over other rights, is the right to constitutional counsel.”
During his first term in the White House, US President Donald Trump ramped up sanctions on Venezuela over allegations that Maduro’s government was corrupt and undermining democratic institutions. Washington called Maduro’s 2018 reelection fraudulent.
Maduro dismissed those accusations, along with allegations of his participation in drug trafficking, as pretextual justifications for what he called a US desire to seize control of the South American Opec nation’s vast oil reserves. — Reuters
These were the details of the news US eases sanctions to let Venezuela pay Maduro’s lawyer in narcoterrorism case for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new.
It is also worth noting that the original news has been published and is available at Malay Mail and the editorial team at AlKhaleej Today has confirmed it and it has been modified, and it may have been completely transferred or quoted from it and you can read and follow this news from its main source.
