ALL OUT FOR CILIA FLORES – Thurs. Oct. 8 at 9:30am

Posted in Actions, Health, In the U.S., Latin America & The Caribbean, Prisoners, Spotlight, Venezuela

All out for Cilia Flores!
Prison is not a place for Surgery!
Support Women’s Health!
Release Cilia now!

PROTEST AND PRESS CONFERENCE
Thursday, October 8 at 9:30AM

Baxter & Worth,

U.S District Court, Southern District of NY

Cilia Flores was kidnapped from Caracas on January 3, 2026 alongside the democratically elected President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. In violation of international law, and U.S. law, Flores and Maduro are facing a sham trial, here in the United States.

Wherever you are please take a minute and make a call to Judge Alvin Hellerstein’s office (212-805-0152) with a similar message:

I am very concerned about the health of Cilia Flores, Deputy of the Venezuelan National Assembly and the First Lady of Venezuela. Cilia Flores is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York while experiencing a dangerous heart condition. She is awaiting trial and has not been convicted of any crime. Please grant her “home detention” so she can receive the medical care she needs.

Cilia Flores should not have to die in a U.S. prison.

On Thursday, October 8 at 9:30AM progressive and antiwar forces will gather at U.S District Court, Southern District of NY, at Baxter and Worth St in Manhattan, to call for Cilia Flores’ release during a legal hearing. The hearing would determine whether or not Flores could recover from heart surgery while under “home detention” in NYC. The alternative would be recovering at the MDC Prison — notorious for mistreatment of inmates and medical neglect.

Anchoring Organizations:
Brooklyn Against War,
All African People’s Revolutionary Party,
Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective,
Black Alliance for Peace NYC/NJ,
Bronx Antiwar,
CodePink NYC,
CUNY for Palestine,
Diaspora Pa’ante Collective,
Freedom Road Socialist Organization,
Palavar Collective,
Prolibertad,
Venezuela Solidarity Network,
United National Antiwar Coalition,
Workers World Party

Demonstrate for medical care – and freedom – for Cilia Flores, Oct. 8

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.

Please call Judge Alvin Hellerstein, before October 8 and leave a recorded message expressing your humanitarian concern for this urgent request.
Call: 212-805-0152

Across the country, nationally coordinated actions are called by No War on Venezuela Network on October 3. In addition, they are mobilizing a demonstration at the Federal courtroom in NYC 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!

These coordinated actions are called by No War on Venezuela Network, an emergency Network of: