Most of Nicolas Maduro’s relatives are still in Venezuela, including others wanted by the United States.

Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were arrested Monday in New York on federal drug trafficking and other charges following their capture during a dramatic U.S. military operation this weekend. But virtually everyone close to the fallen leader – including some with whom he is in contact accused of running a cartel who allegedly smuggled tons of cocaine into the United States – remain at their posts.

The United States, along with many Venezuelans and other countries, believes that elections in Venezuela last year was actually won decisively by the party of Maria Corina Machado, winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prizea longtime leader of the country’s persecuted political opposition. Maduro declared victory despite widespread allegations of electoral fraud and intimidation.

But Machado has lived in exile for many months and his current whereabouts were unclear Monday. She appears to have been largely snubbed by Mr Trump in his immediate plans for Venezuela, with the US leader saying she lacks the popular support needed to become head of government.

Machado expressed optimism in a statement released Monday that she and “the courageous people of Venezuela” would soon enjoy freedom and “celebrate in our land.” But for now, those who hold the weapons and ostensibly run the country are not his supporters, but those of Nicolas Maduro.

Below is a look at some of the most senior members of the Maduro regime who remain in Caracas – and in the case of at least one of them, just got a promotion.

Delcy Rodriguez

The highest-ranking member of Maduro’s inner circle, who was unaffected by the weekend’s U.S. attacks and raids, is likely the country’s former vice president. Delcy Rodríguez, who took the oath Monday as the new interim president, taking the reins from her longtime political mentor.

This 56-year-old man has long been considered a loyal confidant and protégé of the now deposed Venezuelan leader, and as a member of a cadre accused by Washington for many years of helping Maduro maintain his authoritarian hold on power.

It was unclear Monday whether Rodríguez and the Trump administration could find a way to work together, and thus whether she could remain in power in some capacity following Mr. Trump’s assertion that the United States would “run” Venezuela for an indefinite period.

Mr. Trump warned this weekend that if Rodríguez “does not do what is right, she will pay a very heavy price, probably higher than Maduro.”

Diosdado Hair

Another pillar of the Maduro regime is Diosdado Hairwho is currently Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace, entrusting him with supervision of the country’s police and prisons.

Cabello served as vice president and for many years speaker of the country’s parliament. He also spent years as head of Venezuela’s intelligence services.

Like Maduro, he was criminally indicted in the United States, accused of helping to traffic more than 5 tons of cocaine into the United States.

In 2020, he was among the accused with various federal drug and weapons offenses in an indictment filed in the same Southern District of New York that handled Maduro’s indictment on Monday.

The indictment names Cabello as a senior official in the Cartel del los Soles, which Maduro is accused of leading.

Vladimir Padrino Lopez

Vladimir Padrino López, currently Minister of Defense of Venezuela, is also accused of direct involvement in drug trafficking to the United States

The United States accuses him of allowing the safe passage of commercial flights carrying illegal drugs and charging protection fees for doing so. was indicted in federal court in Washington, DC in 2020.

Jorge Rodriguez

The new interim president’s brother, Jorge Rodríguez, has served as president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, the country’s legislature controlled by Maduro, since 2021. He is also considered a key figure in the regime.

“My main function in the days to come (…) as president of this National Assembly, will be to use all procedures, all platforms and all avenues to bring back Nicolas Maduro Moros, my brother, my president,” Jorge Rodriguez told parliamentarians.

Just like his sister, Rodríguez was sanctioned by the US Treasury for its alleged role in undermining democracy in Venezuela and supporting Maduro’s authoritarian regime.

Nicolas “Nicolasito” Ernesto Maduro Guerra

One of Maduro’s sons, as well as his mother Cilia, who was arraigned with her husband in New York on Monday, were also charged in 2020 with drug offenses linked to the Cartel de los Soles.

Nicolás Ernesto Maduro Guerra, 35, known in the country as Nicolasito or Little Nicolás, is currently vice president of the legislature. He is also sometimes called “The Prince” in the country.

According to the US indictment, the younger Maduro associated with his father, other high-ranking officials and “narcotics traffickers and narcoterrorist groups, who shipped processed cocaine from Venezuela to the United States via transshipment points in the Caribbean and Central America.”