Exploring the life of Nicolás Maduro Guerra, known as “Nicolasito,” is far from a trivial exercise. His family ties to Nicolás Maduro Moros position him as a key player with access to the Venezuelan power center, even if his real influence varies with Venezuela’s current situation.
In fact, many consider him to be the political heir and potential successor of Nicolás Maduro Moros.
This figure, rather than fading into the background of Venezuela’s political landscape, has been establishing a public profile that surpasses being merely “the son” of the tyrant. Over the past years, he has shaped his image as a political figure, particularly focused on economics and international relations.
His inclination towards the Chinese model makes it even more essential to analyze his behavior and actions, especially at a time when Venezuela’s future remains uncertain, particularly regarding whether the provisional government, led by Delcy Rodríguez, will follow guidance from the U.S. government.
Who is Nicolás Maduro Guerra, alias “Nicolasito”?
Nicolás Ernesto Maduro Guerra was born on June 21, 1990, in Caracas, from Nicolás Maduro Moros’s first marriage to Adriana Guerra Angulo. He is married to Grysell Torres, with whom he has two daughters, one born in 2007 and the other in 2012.
Between 1998 and 2004, he served as a flutist in Venezuela’s Symphony Orchestra System. He graduated as an economist from the National Experimental Polytechnic University of the Bolivarian Armed Forces and has shown an interest in politics since a young age, working within the youth movement of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
It is said that the actual reason he was granted the vice-presidency of the PSUV youth movement in Caracas and La Guaira in 2018 was to sideline Héctor Rodríguez, a rising star with significant influence in chavismo. Some claim that his political rise is not attributed to talent but to his lineage with Nicolás Maduro Moros.
“Nicolasito” was part of the Constituent National Assembly, which was criticized and sanctioned, called by his father in 2017 and functioning until 2020. He then jumped to the National Assembly as a deputy for La Guaira, being one of the candidates presented by the ruling party in the aforementioned year. During this term, he joined the Commission of Economy, Finance, and National Development, as well as special groups focused on electoral reforms and parliamentary friendship with Russia, China, and Japan. He was re-elected for the period of 2025-2030.
All of this has triggered accusations of nepotism against the “presidential” family, as Nicolás Maduro Moros designated him as head of the newly formed Presidential Inspector Corps right after taking office in 2013.
Similarly, in 2014, he was appointed coordinator of the National Film Institute without any prior experience. In 2017, the dictator Maduro created the position of general director of presidential delegations and instructions for the vice president and appointed him to that role. In 2018, he joined the board of the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras. Another task given by his father was taking part in the negotiating commission between the regime and the Venezuelan opposition in Mexico in 2021.
Accusations of Transporting “Unknown Bundles”
During an interview in 2017, Captain Sunny Balza Dugarte claimed that Nicolás Maduro Guerra, alias “Nicolasito,” transported “unknown bundles” through the Margarita Island airport without any control.
He also mentioned that this airport had witnessed encounters between the Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and individuals “close” to the Venezuelan regime.
Sunny Balza Dugarte, who requested political asylum in the United States after deserting the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, stated that “loads were carried out during night hours by pickup trucks that entered directly to the ramps with unknown bundles.”
He added that this operation took place in the military ramp of Santiago Mariño International Airport, without any “type of airport or narcotic control.”
Balza Dugarte did not rule out the possibility that the mentioned bundles could have been illicit substances “based on the type of packaging and units being loaded onto the aircraft owned by the state oil company PDVSA.”
The former military figure also alleged that Nicolás Maduro Guerra participated in “orgies with dozens of women” along with “his advisors, individuals responsible for links with the National Guard, and senior military officials”.
Admirer of the North Korean Model
In July 2019, while serving as the National Commissioner of Ideological Training for the PSUV, Nicolás Maduro Guerra made a mysterious trip to North Korea to participate in a congress of communist youth.
“The struggle of the Korean people is just. More than that, it’s human. And as such, it’s also ours. This visit is historic because it allows us to learn from you, about your model of resistance, and your society model. A more just, more humane world is possible; we will build it together,” he stated during the event. Unambiguously, “Nicolasito” expressed his desire to promote the Korean model in Venezuela.
After the trip, he posted on social media: “In North Korea, we were carrying out an agenda of brotherhood and peace among peoples. A just struggle for the sovereignty and equality of nations. We continue to explore paths to strengthen bonds of brotherhood with the world, to consolidate a fraternal embrace of Venezuelans for all those who work daily to build a more humane world.”
However, the connection would not be merely ideological between the Venezuelan and Korean regimes; more pragmatic reasons would drive them, such as economic interests—including illegal mining—and cooperation to evade international sanctions.
Sanctioned by the Treasury Department
On June 28, 2019, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury Department designates Nicolás Maduro Guerra, alias “Nicolasito,” as a member of the illegitimate regime led by his father, Nicolás Maduro Moros.
The Executive Order (EO) 13692 in which this decision is based states that Maduro Guerra is a member of the illegitimate Constituent National Assembly initiated by his father after he came to power.
It also enumerated his roles within the Presidential Inspector Corps, his participation in propaganda and censorship campaigns, his shared benefits from Venezuelan mines with Nicolás Maduro Moros and Cilia Flores. He was also held accountable for devising the strategy through which pressure was applied to the Bolivarian National Armed Forces to deny humanitarian aid to Venezuela, labeling it as an attempt to undermine Venezuelan democracy. He was noted for increasing censorship in Venezuelan telecommunications.
The measure blocked all properties and interests in properties—directly or indirectly owned by Nicolás Maduro Guerra, alias “Nicolasito,” by 50% or more—in the United States.
Then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stated that “Maduro relies on his son, Nicolasito, and other close associates in his authoritarian regime to maintain control over the economy and oppress the Venezuelan people. The Treasury will continue to target complicit family members of illegitimate regime members who benefit from Maduro’s corruption.”
Therefore, it’s possible to find him in the official OFAC search engine with his identification and date of birth.
Regarding the irregular mining activities carried out by Nicolás Maduro Moros’s regime and his associates, Transparency Venezuela reported that since 2017, the dictatorship resorts—besides corruption—to selling “blood gold,” as its extraction costs the lives of many. Additionally, a study by the firm Ecoanalítica reported that illegal mining—though not new in Venezuela—saw an increase after the nationalization carried out by Hugo Chávez in 2011, with gold smuggling reaching USD 1,834 million in 2016, representing 60.9% of the total. By the end of 2018, Venezuela reportedly lost USD 2.7 billion from this illegal activity.
Corruption and Frontmen
Nicolásito is not immune to corruption accusations either. Manuel Cristopher Figuera, the former head of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN), accused him from his exile in the United States of leading the looting of gold from the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) and managing mining companies.
He claimed that Maduro Guerra bought gold at low prices from the state of Bolívar’s mafias—then reselling it at inflated prices to the BCV.
Figuera also stated that Venezuelan lawyer and businessman Santiago José Morón Hernández acts as a supposed frontman for Nicolás Ernesto Maduro Guerra. It’s noteworthy that Morón Hernández and his brother Ricardo José Morón Hernández were sanctioned by the United States government for their support of “Nicolasito” in “corrupt activities involving members of his father’s illegitimate regime.”
The brothers were designated for assisting, sponsoring, and providing financial, material, or technological support of goods or services to public corruption by high-ranking officials within the Venezuelan government.
The Treasury Department identified Nicolás Maduro Guerra and the Morón Hernández brothers as “central figures in the gold industry of Venezuela.” In response to these accusations, “Nicolasito” asserted that “the United States lacks evidence to prove the illegal sale of gold by the Morón brothers. Their only resources serve to publish lies, ignoring rigor and ethics.”
Other journalistic sources claim that Nicolás Maduro Guerra and the Morón Hernández brothers allegedly managed funds from the public administration amounting to USD 1 billion to USD 2 billion. Turkey was said to be a destination for the precious metal negotiated by “Nicolasito.”
Furthermore, beyond gold, the business between the Morón Hernández brothers and Maduro’s son would also extend to the importation of other products paid for through the National Center for Foreign Trade, without any certainty that the goods arrived in Venezuela.
Charges in New York
Nicolás Ernesto Maduro Guerra is also included in the charges filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against his father, Nicolás Maduro Moros, and his wife, Cilia Flores. He is accused of using a state-owned PDVSA plane to transport drugs from Margarita Island.
Additionally, he is identified as “the Prince” and accused of negotiating directly with representatives of FARC to coordinate cocaine and arms trafficking to the U.S.
The indictment states that between 2014 and 2015, a Venezuelan National Guard captain at Margarita Island coordinated logistics and set up women for the visits of Venezuelan officials, including “Nicolasito,” who frequented the area approximately twice a month. The son of the “Cartel of the Suns” leader arrived on a PDVSA-owned Falcon 900 aircraft, and before departing the island, the plane was loaded—sometimes assisted by armed sergeants—with large packages covered in tape that, according to the captain, contained drugs. During one of these loadings, Maduro Guerra claimed that the plane could go wherever it wanted, even to the United States.
The indictment further claims that in 2017, “Nicolasito” sent hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Venezuela to Miami, Florida. Collaborating with his drug trafficking partners, he coordinated the shipment of low-quality cocaine to New York, as it could not be sold in Miami.
In 2020, Nicolás Ernesto Maduro Guerra met in Medellín, Colombia, with two representatives of FARC to discuss agreements for transporting large quantities of cocaine and weapons through Colombia to the U.S. by 2026. “Nicolasito” also discussed payment for arms to the FARC in relation to cocaine shipments, the indictment states.
Nicolás Ernesto Maduro Guerra, alias “Nicolasito,” faces charges of conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of firearms, and conspiracy to possess firearms and destructive devices.