Adversaries of President Nicolas Maduro can barely disguise their glee at the U.S. drug arrest of two of his family members, but they are focused on legislative elections next month as their best hope of weakening his grip on power.
Amid a series of U.S. probes into alleged cocaine smuggling and money laundering by officials and others connected to Venezuela's socialist government, two nephews of Maduro's wife were indicted in New York on Thursday for alleged cocaine smuggling after being arrested in Haiti.
Opposition parties demanded a government probe into the case, which they said substantiated long-standing accusations that government and military officials have colluded with drug gangs.