Who is Cilia Flores, Venezuela's first lady seized by the U.S.?
Who is Cilia Flores, Venezuela's first lady seized by the U.S.?
"She became a critical piece in Maduro's regime," said AS/COA's José Enrique Arrioja to BBC.
When U.S. forces conducted a night raid on the Venezuelan capital Caracas, they didn't just drag President Nicolás Maduro from his compound and put him on a flight to New York - they took his wife too.
Cilia Flores, 69, has long been seen as one of the most powerful figures in Venezuela, a political operator in her own right who for decades has shaped the country's fortunes. After years leading Venezuela's National Assembly, she helped consolidate her husband's grip on power after his 2013 presidential election victory. As First Lady, she was dubbed "First Warrior" by Maduro. But in that role she publicly took a backseat - presenting a more family-oriented face to what critics say was a brutal regime.
She hosted a TV show, Con Cilia en Familia, and made occasional appearances on state television to dance salsa with her husband. But behind-the-scenes, she is thought to have been one of Maduro's key advisers, and an architect of his political survival. [...]
"She became a critical piece in Maduro's regime," said José Enrique Arrioja, a Venezuelan journalist and managing editor of Americas Quarterly.
"She was not only the emotional confidant of Maduro, but the professional confidant too. And she was very power-driven..."
