Which Venezuelan officials have been sanctioned or indicted by the U.S. for drug-related crimes since 2016?
Executive summary
Since 2016 the United States has both criminally charged and financially sanctioned a range of Venezuelan officials and associates for alleged drug-related activity: high-profile indictments include President Nicolás Maduro and multiple senior officials in a DOJ narco‑terrorism case unsealed in 2020 and expanded in subsequent U.S. actions [1] [2] [3], while Treasury and Justice actions and prosecutions have targeted others including Néstor Reverol and members of the Flores family who were convicted in U.S. courts in 2016 [4] [5] [6].
1. Major criminal indictments: Nicolás Maduro and the 2020–2025 DOJ case
The Department of Justice unsealed a sprawling indictment alleging that President Nicolás Maduro led a decades‑long narcoterrorism conspiracy to traffic cocaine to the United States; that case names Maduro and “various senior Venezuelan officials” and was publicized in 2020 and reinforced by DOJ releases in 2025 [1] [3] [2]. U.S. prosecutors’ allegations describe a “Cartel de los Soles” patronage system and specific schemes—such as misuse of diplomatic passports and use of presidential hangars—while emphasizing these remain allegations in a pending U.S. criminal matter [2] [7].
2. Senior officials charged or named alongside Maduro in DOJ filings
Beyond Maduro, the Justice Department’s public materials and press releases list several current and former officials charged in related matters: Tareck El Aissami is identified among those charged in the DOJ announcement; the government also charged or filed complaints against figures tied to Venezuela’s state apparatus including Maikel José Moreno (Chief Justice) and other high‑ranking officials named in DOJ materials [3]. The DOJ press release enumerates named co-defendants and related criminal counts tied to drug‑trafficking, money laundering and corruption [3].
3. Néstor Reverol and the 2016 indictment reference
Néstor Reverol, then interior minister and former National Guard commander, has been publicly identified as having been indicted by the United States in 2016 on drug conspiracy allegations, and U.S. sources and sanction lists have repeatedly cited him in connection with narcotics allegations since then [4]. That 2016 indictment is often cited by U.S. policy and sanctions actions as a touchstone for broader allegations of military involvement in trafficking [4].
4. The “narco‑nephews” and related convictions/sanctions
Two nephews of Cilia Flores—Efraín Antonio Campo Flores and Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas—were arrested in 2015, tried and convicted in the United States on drug‑trafficking charges in 2016 and later returned to Venezuela after clemency in 2022; related family members and associates such as Carlos Erik Malpica Flores have also been targeted by U.S. sanctions [5] [6]. U.S. Treasury and DOJ materials explicitly reference those convictions and later OFAC designations tying members of that network to narcotics activity [5] [6].
5. Treasury sanctions, OFAC designations and the evolving sanctions picture
Since 2016 the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and State Department have expanded targeted financial sanctions against Venezuelan officials and regime‑linked actors for narcotics, corruption and related offenses; by mid‑2025 Treasury reported more than 150 SDN designations against Venezuelans under various authorities and has applied narcotics‑related designations and terrorism‑related designations to regime figures and networks [8] [6]. OFAC press statements and CRS summaries document sustained sanctioning as a primary U.S. tool alongside criminal charging [8] [6].
6. Context, disputes and what the public record does and does not show
U.S. criminal indictments and sanctions constitute formal allegations and administrative penalties; several sources note that some claims—such as the scope and formal structure of a single “Cartel de los Soles”—are debated by analysts and intelligence assessments even as DOJ and Treasury assert systemic involvement by Venezuelan officials [2] [9] [7]. Reporting and government releases document the named indictments, convictions and OFAC listings but do not settle contested intelligence judgments about the unity or command structure of alleged state-linked trafficking networks [2] [9].