3 January 15–21, 2026 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | ▼ MAGIC CITY BUMPIN’ THAT FEDS SAY MIAMI DIDN’T WANT MADURO’S SON’S ‘LOW-QUALITY’ COCAINE. BY ALEX DELUCA On Saturday, January 3, the world awoke to the news that the United States had bombed Venezuela and captured dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in an over- night military action. Hours later, an un- sealed U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) superseding indictment accused Maduro of running a “corrupt, illegitimate government” fueled by an extensive drug-trafficking oper- ation that flooded the U.S. with thousands of tons of cocaine. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi vowed in a social media post that Maduro would “soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.” He and his wife made their first appearance at a fed- eral arraignment in Manhattan, where they pleaded not guilty. After Maduro and his wife appeared in court, the Justice Department quietly re- treated from its dubious claim that Maduro led a drug cartel called Cartel de los Soles. The department released a revised indict- ment that still accuses Maduro of participat- ing in a drug trafficking conspiracy but abandons the assertion that Cartel de los Soles was an actual organization. Instead, the rewritten indictment (which replaced the one the DOJ initially released) states that the term refers to a “patronage system” and a “culture of corruption” fueled by drug money. However, it’s not just Maduro and Flores who are named in the indictment. Maduro’s son, Nicolás Maduro (Jr.) Guerra — a 35-year-old member of Venezuela’s National Assembly known as “Nicolasito” or “The Prince” — is also named and accused of assisting in the drug operation starting in 2014. Notably, the indictment alleges that Maduro Guerra “worked to ship hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Venezuela to Miami, Florida” years later, around 2017. “During this time, [Maduro Guerra] spoke with his drug trafficking partners about, among other things, shipping low-quality co- caine to New York because it could not be sold in Miami, arranging a 500-kilogram shipment of cocaine to be unloaded from the cargo container near Miami, and using scrap metal containers to smuggle cocaine into the ports of New York,” the indictment reads. Neither a Drug Enforcement Administra- tion (DEA) spokesperson nor a U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson responded to New Times’ requests for comment. More than 2,000 miles away, while the couple appeared in court in Manhattan, Maduro Guerra spoke before Venezuela’s parliament and demanded that the U.S. re- turn his parents to the Latin American coun- try. “If we normalize the kidnapping of a head of state, no country is safe,” Maduro Guerra said. “Today it’s Venezuela. Tomorrow, it could be any nation that refuses to submit.” The U.S. seized Maduro and his wife in a military operation, capturing them in their home on a military base in Caracas and bring- ing them to New York via the USS Iwo Jima, a large warship. While Trump said in a press conference that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela temporarily, Secretary of State Marco Rubio clarified that it would not govern the country’s day-to-day operations aside from enforcing an existing “oil quarantine.” Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s vice presi- dent and oil minister, was sworn in as interim president. While appearing in court, Maduro de- clared himself the “president of my country” and maintained his innocence. “I was captured,” Maduro said in Spanish before being cut off by the judge. When asked for his plea to the charges, he said: “I’m inno- cent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the president of my country.” [email protected] | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS On the Way Down People are moving to South Florida in droves. BY B. SCOTT MCLENDON N o state taxes, balmy weather year- round, a seemingly endless list of enter- tainment options, a “colorful, lawless swamp,” as Michael Scott once said, the Florida mystique continues to lure scores of new resi- dents to her shores. For the 11th consecutive year, U-Haul’s data has ranked Florida among the top five most popular moving destinations. The Sunshine State jumped North and South Carolina into the sec- ond spot behind Texas. In the annual study, U- Haul looked at one-way rentals to determine which states saw the highest influx of apparent movers and provided insight into the driving forces behind the data. “We continue to find that life circumstances — marriage, children, a death in the family, college, jobs and other events — dictate the need for most moves,” U-Haul International president John (J.T.) Taylor said in the study. “But other fac- tors can be important to people who are looking to change their surroundings. In-migration states are often appealing to those customers.” U-Haul further breaks down the cities that lead the way for growth, with Fort Lauderdale topping the list for South Florida at number seven, behind places like Ocala (first) and Kis- simmee (fourth). The company ranked Miami 24th in its ranking of most popular metro desti- nations, behind places like Lakeland (11th), Palm Bay (13th), Jacksonville (18th), and Port St. Lu- cie (19th). Mario Martinez, South Florida’s U-Haul area district vice president, said in the study, “Florida has opportunities for work, no state taxes, and great weather year-round. It’s also a great place to start and raise a family. You have all types of activities across the state, and good schools from preschool to universities. “We see a lot of people moving here from the Northeast. We have an endless number of retir- ees coming to Florida,” he said in the study. “They come for a better quality of life, warm weather and a laid-back lifestyle. It’s a melting pot of people here.” While a U-Haul spokesperson told New Times that they, for proprietary reasons, couldn’t share the underlying data showing exactly how many one-way movers came to Florida last year, the company noted more than 2.5 million one-way transactions across the U.S. and Canada. [email protected] U-Haul photo Florida placed second among the most popular states for inbound moves, according to U-Haul. Photo by Palácio do Planalto/Flickr On January 3, the United States bombed Venezuela and captured Nicolás Maduro.
