 The two men were charged in a sealed indictment accusing them of conspiring to ship 800 kilograms of cocaine to the United States, to be sold in New York, according to the person with knowledge of the matter. The two were arrested in Haiti after contacting an undercover U.S. agent about selling 800 kg (1,763 lbs) of cocaine through Honduras, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter. The U.S. State Department says that more than half of the cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia is trafficked through Venezuela toward markets in Europe and the United States. Investigators have long contended that high-level Venezuelan officials are involved in the drug trade and several officials in the armed forces and government have been publicly identified by the American authorities as having links to traffickers.  NEW YORK/CARACAS Two nephews of Venezuela's first lady have been arrested and brought to the United States to face drug trafficking charges, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. Venezuela's Information Ministry did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment. She is frequently seen at Maduro's side in public events, and on Wednesday was with him in Saudi Arabia. Maduro is scheduled to speak at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday to defend his country's human rights record in the face of accusations he has stifled dissent.
– Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro regularly accuses the US of plotting against him, and the arrest of two family members by American authorities is unlikely to soften his stance. The two men were arrested in Haiti on Tuesday and flown to New York the same day to answer charges of plotting to smuggle 800 kilograms of cocaine to the US, reports the Wall Street Journal, which notes that the US alleges top-level government involvement in Venezuelan drug trafficking. The two suspects are Franqui Francisco Flores-de Freitas and Efrain Antonio Campo-Flores, nephews of Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores, reports Reuters. Sources tell the New York Times that the two men approached a DEA informant in Honduras last month to discuss smuggling the shipment and were arrested in Haiti at the request of US authorities before being flown to the US on a DEA plane. Maduro—who says US accusations of government involvement in drug trafficking are part of an American conspiracy to bring down his socialist government —is due to speak about his country's human rights record at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday, Reuters reports. On the same day, his wife's nephews are due to make their first appearance in federal District Court in Manhattan.