2 Said to Be Venezuelan First Lady’s Nephews Charged in Drug Plot
By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM and WILLIAM NEUMAN

Federal prosecutors in New York on Thursday charged two men — identified by a person briefed on the case as nephews of the wife of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela — with conspiring to ship cocaine to the United States.

The two men, identified in an indictment unsealed in Federal District Court in Manhattan as Efraín Antonio Campo Flores and Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas, were arrested in Haiti on Tuesday at the request of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and handed over to its agents. They were then flown to New York to face charges, according to the person with knowledge of the case.

They were expected to make a brief court appearance on Thursday.

According to the indictment, the two men took part in a meeting in Venezuela last month to discuss shipping the cocaine through Honduras and on to the United States. The person familiar with the case said that agents made video and audio recordings of the meeting.

The men are both nephews of Cilia Flores, the influential wife of Mr. Maduro, the person said. Mr. Maduro, a leftist, calls Ms. Flores the country’s “first combatant” rather than its first lady. She is one of the most powerful people in the upper echelons of government and is frequently seen at her husband’s side.

The case is being prosecuted by the Terrorism and International Narcotics unit in the office of the United States attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara.

In October, the two men approached a D.E.A. informant in Honduras and discussed moving the narcotics through that country, the person said. They later met with the informant in Venezuela and provided a kilogram of the cocaine as a sample of the drugs they intended to provide, the person said, adding that agents had made video and audiotapes of at least one of the encounters.

American officials say that a large amount of the cocaine produced in Colombia is shipped through Venezuela before it heads to the United States and other parts of the world.

Investigators have long contended that high-level Venezuelan officials are involved in the drug trade and several officials in the armed forces and government have been publicly identified by the American authorities as having links to traffickers.

Officials said this year that the powerful head of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, was being investigated on charges of trafficking. Mr. Cabello has strongly denied any connection to the drug trade.

Last year, a former head of the Venezuelan intelligence apparatus, Hugo Carvajal, was arrested in Aruba at the request of the American authorities, who unsealed indictments accusing him of being on the payroll of Colombian traffickers and of investing in and coordinating drug shipments. But Mr. Carvajal was allowed to return to Venezuela rather than being sent to the United States to face the charges.

Mr. Maduro has angrily responded to the American allegations, calling them false and part of a conspiracy by Washington to undermine his government.

委內瑞拉總統繼子 在美販毒被逮

委內瑞拉第一夫人佛羅雷斯的兩名姪兒10日在海地被捕，隨後遭美國聯邦緝毒署專機載回紐約，訂於12日在紐約曼哈坦聯邦地院出庭，罪名是走私毒品。美國與委國關係素來不睦，本案等於火上加油，並衝擊執政黨在下個月國會選舉的選情。

委內瑞拉總統馬杜洛稱妻子為該國「第一戰將」，而非第一夫人。馬杜洛2013年當選總統後，才與佛羅雷斯結婚。其中一名姪兒自稱是馬杜洛的繼子。

紐時報導，佛羅雷斯的兩名姪兒被控密謀走私800公斤重的古柯鹼到美國，計畫在紐約販售。消息人士說，兩人10月在宏都拉斯跟美國緝毒署的線民接頭，討論走私毒品到美國的計畫。雙方後來在委內瑞拉再次碰面，兩人提供海洛因樣本。接洽過程被緝毒幹員拍下影音。

美國調查小組由聯邦緝毒署、國土安全部、紐約市警局和紐約州警、國稅局組成。官員表示許多古柯鹼在哥倫比亞製造後運往委內瑞拉，再銷往美國和其他國家。美一直指控委國高層涉販毒，包括軍方和情治單位。國會議長卡貝洛今年甚至因涉嫌走私毒品而遭到調查，但他否認涉案。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/13/world/americas/venezuela-drug-trafficking-cocaine.html

2015-11-13．聯合報．A20．國際．編譯張佑生