along with her husband by US troops. The couple were quickly spirited out of the country to stand trial on US drug-trafficking charges.

“Cilita,” as Maduro calls her, served as first lady for more than a decade — although in the official jargon of the socialist movement known as Chavismo she is referred to as “first combatant.” She has been Maduro’s partner for more than 30 years, during which time she built her own political capital and was considered one of the most powerful women in Venezuela.

Cilia Flores, born in 1956 in the town of Tinaquillo in central Venezuela, grew up in working-class neighborhoods in western Caracas. She met Maduro, who frequently emphasizes his humble origins, during the early days of the Chavista movement. A lawyer specializing in labor and criminal law, she provided legal assistance to Hugo Chávez, the movement’s namesake, and other military officers who were captured after attempting to overthrow then-President Carlos Andrés Pérez in 1992. Maduro, for his part, also campaigned for Chávez’s release and was on the then-lieutenant colonel’s security team.

“During that struggle for Chávez’s release, we were involved in street activities. I always remember a meeting in Catia, and when a young man asked to speak, he spoke, and I just stared at him. I said, ‘How intelligent,’” Flores recalled in November 2023, on the first episode of Maduro’s podcast.

Since then, they have remained inseparable, but Flores forged her own political path. She was elected to her first term as a member of the National Assembly in 2000, the year after Chávez was elected president. She won a seat again in 2005, and a year later she became the first woman to preside over parliament, succeeding Maduro, who became Chávez’s foreign minister.

During her tenure, she banned journalists from entering the legislative chamber. She was also criticized for hiring dozens of relatives as employees in Congress. In an interview with the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, she responded that the complaint was never formally filed and that it was a smear campaign, but she confirmed the hirings: “Yes, my family members were hired based on their own merits; I am proud of them and I will defend their work whenever necessary.” (CNN)