US allows Maduro to use frozen funds for defense

The United States has authorized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores to use frozen Venezuelan government funds to pay for their legal defense in a New York drug trafficking case. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued special licenses allowing the use of the funds, which Manhattan prosecutors had previously argued violated sanctions. Maduro and Flores had requested the charges be dismissed, citing a violation of their right to a fair trial due to the funding blockade, but withdrew that motion after the Treasury's authorization. The case, which accuses the couple of narco-terrorism and drug trafficking, will now proceed.