The U.S. judicial case against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was assigned this Wednesday to Federal Judge Analisa Torres, following the death of Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, who had overseen the proceedings since March 2020. The reassignment was formalized in the records of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
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The transition occurred through an administrative procedure used to reassign cases previously handled by judges who are no longer active due to retirement or death. Judge Hellerstein passed away this Wednesday at the age of 92 from natural causes, as confirmed by a court spokesperson. He had served for nearly three decades, presiding over cases that garnered significant media and legal attention.
Analisa Torres became a judge for the Southern District of New York in 2013, having been appointed by then-President Barack Obama. Born in New York in 1959, she has presided over complex civil, criminal, and regulatory litigation throughout her tenure on the federal bench.
Torres graduated with honors from Harvard University and earned her law degree from Columbia Law School. Before joining the federal court, she worked in private practice and served for nearly ten years on the New York State Supreme Court, in addition to holding positions within the city’s civil and criminal court systems. She comes from a family of legal professionals with Puerto Rican roots.
Status of the Judicial Proceedings
Judge Hellerstein had presided over the case since its inception in March 2020, when Washington filed initial drug-trafficking charges against the Venezuelan president. The next hearing is scheduled for December 17 and will focus on claims of sovereign immunity raised by the defense. The trial is set for June 14, 2027, alongside the proceedings against lawmaker Cilia Flores.
On October 15, Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores pleaded not guilty before Judge Hellerstein—who was presiding at the time—during a hearing in New York, following the addition of new charges by the U.S. Prosecutor’s Office.
According to a teleSUR correspondent, the president Maduro stated that he had read the indictment in its entirety and rejected it, dismissing it as a collection of false and mendacious accusations that were already known. He reiterated his innocence, while Flores declared: “I am completely innocent; I am not guilty.”
During the proceeding, the judge granted a joint request from the prosecution and the defense to postpone the start of the trial by two weeks, allowing more time for the preparation and filing of pretrial motions. As a result of the hearing, the trial was rescheduled for June 14, 2027.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov demanded the immediate release of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, denouncing their imprisonment in the U.S. without trial. He also condemned the attacks against Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and warned of the serious… pic.twitter.com/l7WI0wOKHt
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) September 26, 2026
Case Chronology
January 3, 2026: Following bombings in Caracas and other cities, U.S. special forces kidnapping President Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores in the Venezuelan capital and transported them to the United States. The operation resulted in over a hundred deaths and a similar number of injuries. The then-Executive Vice President, Delcy Rodríguez, assumed acting president role.
January 5: Both individuals made their initial appearance in New York, pleaded not guilty, and were placed in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
July: The prosecution and the defense agreed that the trial would begin on June 1, 2027, with a pretrial hearing scheduled for November 17.
September 9: Cilia Flores’s defense team requested release on bail and house arrest. The judge ordered that medical records remain under seal. September 25: Assistant Prosecutor Jason A. Richman resigned.
October 8: Hellerstein denied the request for bail for Flores. That same day, the prosecution filed a new indictment.
October 15: A hearing was held in which new charges—conspiracy to commit torture—were presented. Maduro and Flores pleaded not guilty, and the trial was rescheduled.
October 29: The case file was reassigned to Judge Analisa Torres following the passing of Hellerstein.
The aggression against Venezuela and the kidnapping of President Maduro and Deputy Flores have drawn condemnation and sparked demonstrations in various parts of the world. Hundreds of protesters have gathered in the vicinity of the Southern District Court in Manhattan during the hearings to express solidarity with the accused and to denounce the warmongering and interference of the White House.
From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.