After dropping several hints on social media Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday that Florida’s attorney general is “seriously” considering bringing state criminal charges against ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Maduro was taken from his home in Caracas Saturday during a surprise military raid of Venezuela by U.S. military and intelligence forces. He was brought to New York where he pleaded not guilty to federal drug and weapons charges originally filed in 2020 in federal court Monday.
The federal indictment does not include immigration charges, but DeSantis said Maduro sent released Venezuelan prisoners to the United States in possible violation of Florida laws.
“He was obviously very involved with drugs, particularly in Florida. But also, he would empty his prisons and send them across the border, some would end up in Florida,” DeSantis said.
State and local law enforcement officials, he added, have arrested alleged members of the Tren de Aragua crime syndicate based in Venezuela.
“To me that is a very hostile act,” DeSantis said. “We’ve had people in Florida victimized by Tren de Aragua members….we’re going to look very seriously at that.”
He had hinted several times on social media Monday that Maduro could face state charges.
Replying to one X post asking if a New York City court would let Maduro walk, DeSantis replied “Dunno but those odds will be different if/when Maduro faces state charges in Miami.”
And when another poster asked if state charges were pending in Florida, DeSantis said: “Stay tuned…”
DeSantis said on Tuesday that Attorney General James Uthmeier is looking at which state laws might apply to those circumstances under which Maduro could be charged.
Uthmeier did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Florida is home to an estimated 300,000 to 380,000 Venezuelans, many of them recent immigrants or refugees seeking asylum from the Maduro regime. Most are concentrated in South Florida with a significant population in Central Florida.
After staying silent all weekend about Maduro’s capture and arrest, DeSantis on Monday acknowledged the operation’s success.
“Maduro has been indicted… and so that operation was successful,” DeSantis said. “He deserves to be brought to justice.”
DeSantis, who ran unsuccessfully against President Donald Trump in the GOP presidential primary in 2024, didn’t give Trump credit for the arrests.
DeSantis on Tuesday reiterated his hope that Venezuelans will be able to “liberate themselves from the yoke” of Marxist ideology that was the hallmark of the Hugo Chavez and Maduro regimes “because it has been one of the most destructive reigns in the western hemisphere.”
