Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to flesh out a potential lawsuit against the recently apprehended Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan leader who was extradited earlier this month to the United States to face federal charges related to narco-trafficking.
Ultimately, Attorney General James Uthmeier’s Office would have to bring the action. But DeSantis says there could be grounds for legal action in Florida parallel to the federal case.
“He was obviously very involved with drugs. He was obviously very involved with bringing drugs, particularly to Florida,” DeSantis said of Maduro in Clearwater.
In addition to narcotics, DeSantis also believes Maduro’s penchant for sending prisoners to the United States may play into legal action.
“He would empty his prisons and send them to America across the border. And we’d end up with some of these people in Florida, Tren de Aragua gang members that were in prison there. And he did that. And so, to me, that is a very hostile act. So we’re looking at the statutes to see, obviously, we’ve got robust narcotics statutes, but certainly on that importing the criminal element,” DeSantis added.
There is precedent for parallel actions, as evidenced by state charges against Ryan Routh, a would-be assassin of then-candidate Donald Trump who was apprehended by state officials in 2024. He has since been sentenced federally after a trial in Miami.
DeSantis argued on social media that Florida has the right to pursue action against Maduro.
“Double jeopardy doesn’t attach. So he can face both state and federal charges,” DeSantis said late Monday.
He also has suggested that unlike in New York City, where Maduro is currently imprisoned, the odds of conviction “will be different if/when Maduro faces state charges in Miami.”
Though DeSantis was silent on the Maduro arrest for more than 48 hours after it happened, the Governor said Tuesday he had been on the forefront of raising awareness about the Venezuelan leader, including in 2022 when DeSantis sent illegal immigrants, many of them Venezuelan, to Martha’s Vineyard.
While those migrants were shipped off from Texas at the expense of Florida taxpayers, DeSantis nonetheless used that example to illustrate his point.
“We’ve had people in Florida that have been victimized by Tren de Aragua gang members, and many of those people likely would never have even been able to come here, even with (former President Joe) Biden’s open border, had Maduro not been releasing people from prison. So we’re going to look very seriously at that,” DeSantis said regarding the trial.
He also said he has been talking about this issue since entering politics.
“This has been an issue in this state (that) I’ve been very vocal on for 15 years,” DeSantis said. “I’ve always viewed Maduro as somebody that was illegitimate, and clearly, this most recent election was an illegitimate election in 2024 down in Venezuela. So, bringing him to justice is absolutely appropriate.”
Maduro was arrested on Jan. 3 of this year, 37 years to the day after Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega was removed from his country to face federal charges for narco-trafficking, money laundering and conspiring with a cartel. That trial was in Miami.
While the federal action against Maduro will be in New York, if state charges come to pass, it may be a case of history repeating.
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