US Grants Maduro Access to Funds for Defense in Criminal Case

Nicolas Maduro during his arrival at the Wall Street heliport ahead of a court apperance in New York in January.Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

US officials reversed themselves and will now allow Nicolás Maduro and his wife to pay lawyers with Venezuelan funds as they defend themselves in the drug-trafficking case against them in New York.

The reversal clears a roadblock that had stalled the prosecution of the former Venezuelan president and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were captured in early January in a raid of their home in Caracas and brought to the US.