Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas and Efraín Antonio Campo Flores, nephews of Cilia Flores, the wife of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, were convicted by a federal jury in Manhattan of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States. The case has been an embarrassment for Maduro amid economic and political crises in the South American nation. The case was one of several in which US prosecutors have linked individuals tied to the Venezuelan government to drug trafficking. Prosecutors said the two men plotted to use a Venezuelan airport’s presidential hangar to send 800 kilograms of cocaine to Honduras for shipment into the United States. The government of Venezuela has not commented on the trial and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the verdict.

Source: The Guardian November 19, 2016 07:22 UTC