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Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has officially moved to dismiss US drug trafficking charges against him.
Getting into it: In a filing in federal court, Maduro argues that the charges against him should be dismissed because the US government is interfering with his Sixth Amendment right to counsel by blocking Venezuela from paying his legal fees. His lawyer, Barry Pollack, said the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control initially granted a license on January 9 allowing the Venezuelan government to fund Maduro’s defense, but revoked that authorization less than three hours later without explanation.
Pollack says that by prohibiting counsel from receiving what he describes as “untainted funds” from Venezuela, while authorizing other commercial transactions, the US government is directly undermining Maduro’s ability to retain the lawyer of his choice.
Maduro maintains that under Venezuelan law, the government in Caracas is obligated to pay his legal expenses and that the government there is willing to do so. In a signed declaration, he stated that he relied on the expectation that Venezuela would cover his fees and that he cannot afford to finance his own defense. Pollack has told the court that without funding from Venezuela, he may be unable to continue representing Maduro, stressing that the funding restriction makes it impossible for Maduro to secure proper legal representation.
While Maduro’s authorization was revoked, the license permitting payment of legal fees for his wife, Cilia Flores, remains in place. Maduro’s legal team argues that this selective revocation is unconstitutional interference and that such government intrusion into his right to counsel warrants dismissal of the drug trafficking case altogether.
As of now, there has been no response from the US government.
