By Sue Harris
September 23, 2026
Venezuelan revolutionary Cilia Flores.
Cilia Flores, a political leader in Venezuela, has been incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn — along with her life partner, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro — since the U.S. kidnapped the two and brought them there illegally by force following the U.S. invasion of their country last Jan. 3.
Flores’ U.S. military kidnappers severely injured her, and she suffers from serious medical problems and lack of care. Her legal team, attorneys Mark E. Donnelly and Andrés Sánchez, in order to provide Flores with regular medical care, submitted a formal application for house arrest to federal judge Alvin K. Hellerstein in New York. Hellerstein called for a hearing on that application for Oct. 8.
Flores is an elected deputy of the Venezuelan National Assembly. She was lead attorney for Hugo Chávez’s defense, securing his release from prison in 1994, and she emerged throughout the 1990s and 2000s as a leading revolutionary in Bolivarian Venezuela. She was the first woman to serve as president of the National Assembly, from 2006 to 2011.
Flores had been under treatment in Venezuela for a heart ailment that was kept under control by regular medication, which MDC jailers have denied her. Her legal team argues that her health condition has significantly worsened during her incarceration.
The U.S. government opposes the house arrest request. The Manhattan federal prosecutor’s office has yet to file a formal written response, and the judge has not yet ruled on the motion. Simultaneously, Judge Hellerstein ordered Flores’ medical records, filed in support of the request, to remain sealed, noting that “courts in this circuit routinely allow the filing of medical records under seal.”
These “sealed” health conditions include that after eight months imprisoned at the MDC, Flores suffers recurring chest pains, has lost two molars, has lost more than 25 pounds and likely suffered a minor heart attack on July 29. In addition, at the time of the U.S. invasion and abduction on Jan. 3, Flores was still in recovery from a recent total hysterectomy and had been ordered by her doctors to limit movement for three months.
Despite this, when the U.S. military invaded her home, she was thrown against a wall and a dresser, causing the injuries to her forehead, which required some 20 stitches and left her with permanent scarring.
MDC horrific for detainees
The MDC is notorious for horrific conditions. Detainees go weeks without seeing the sky or breathing fresh air. Power and water cut out, sometimes for up to a week at a time. And there is a well-documented pattern of medical neglect.
Like the medical neglect she now faces, this violence is against a woman who has dedicated her life to fighting for her people and standing against imperialism and intervention. It should be met with outrage from all progressive and anti-imperialist forces.
For the movement here that supports her, it is not enough for Flores to be merely released under house arrest; the charges against her must be dismissed, and she must be freed once and for all and returned with her partner, President Nicholás Maduro, to their homeland, Venezuela.
Across the country, member organizations of the Anti-War Action Network will continue the monthly demonstrations held around the third day of every month in front of MDC. In addition, they are mobilizing a demonstration at the courtroom on Oct. 8 to demand decent medical care for Cilia Flores, to say no to U.S. intervention in Venezuela and to free Maduro and Flores!
