US Accuses Maduro of Drug Flights via Mexico, Quintana Roo Link

Quintana Roo, Mexico — The United States government’s accusations against Nicolás Maduro not only shake Venezuela but also place Mexico—and particularly Quintana Roo—under the international spotlight again for its role in drug trafficking air routes.

Court documents filed on December 23 before the Southern District Court of New York indicate that Maduro, when he served as foreign minister between 2006 and 2008 during Hugo Chávez’s government, allegedly coordinated suspected drug flights with stopovers in Mexican territory. The documents claim official flights and diplomatic passports were used to move money and drugs between Mexico and Venezuela, evading controls thanks to diplomatic immunity.

The accusation is significant. The United States maintains these flights were part of a systematic logistics operation to transfer drug trafficking profits and that Venezuelan diplomatic passports were even sold to fully identified drug traffickers with the direct knowledge of the then-Minister of Foreign Relations.

This allegation takes on particular dimension in the Mexican Caribbean. In recent years, Quintana Roo has been the scene of seizures of small planes and executive jets allegedly linked to illicit operations, especially in Cozumel, where private aircraft have been confiscated due to irregularities in their origin, flight plans, and undeclared cargo.

Although Mexican authorities have handled these cases as isolated incidents, Washington’s accusations revive an uncomfortable question: Did these aircraft form part of a broader aerial network that used southeastern Mexico as a strategic stopover? Quintana Roo’s geography, with its proximity to the Caribbean, private runways, international airports, and high circulation of executive flights, makes it an ideal point for discreet operations.

The U.S. case file goes further. It links Maduro and members of his inner circle to crimes of drug trafficking, terrorism, conspiracy, and use of weapons of war, with investigations open since 2020. Washington even claims these accusations relate to a recent military operation whose objective allegedly was to capture Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, to bring them before U.S. justice.

While the Venezuelan government denies the allegations and maintains that Maduro remains in office, the political and diplomatic crisis has left Vice President Delcy Rodríguez as an interim figure, according to official versions.

For Mexico, the issue is neither foreign nor distant. The accusations again position the country as a key corridor for international drug trafficking and force a close review of what occurred in entities like Quintana Roo, where the seized small planes and jets—particularly in Cozumel—can no longer be viewed as simple administrative anomalies.

The investigation in New York is just beginning, but its implications are clear: if political power in Venezuela used diplomatic flights for drug trafficking with stopovers in Mexico, then the aircraft seized in the Mexican Caribbean could be pieces of a much larger puzzle. One that no one has yet wanted to fully assemble.