Nicolas Maduro, Wife Were Followers Of Sathya Sai Baba: Old Image Resurfaces
The couple was captured by the US forces during an early Saturday attack and were flown out of the country.
Captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, currently set to face narco terrorism charges in New York, also share an Indian connection. Both were followers of Sathya Sai Baba, who claimed to be the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba.
The couple, captured by the US forces during an early Saturday attack, were flown out of the country. Currently, jailed at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center, or MDC Brooklyn, the couple will face charges for spreading narco terrorism in the US. The indictment alleges that Maduro and other Venezuelan leaders have, for more than 25 years, "abused their positions of public trust and corrupted once-legitimate institutions to import tons of cocaine into the United States".
Raised Catholic, Maduro was introduced to the guru by Flores. The couple had also visited ashram Prasanthi Nilayam in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, in 2005 during a spiritual visit there. Photos of their India visit are now going viral.
Nicolas Maduro's India Connection
A viral image from their India visit shows a young Maduro and Flores seated on the floor beside the godman during a private meeting. NDTV reported that as Maduro gained power, a portrait of Sathya Sai Baba was also displayed in his private office at Miraflores Palace alongside images of Simon Bolivar and Hugo Chavez.
After the Indian spiritual leader died in 2011, Maduro, then Venezuela’s foreign minister, supported an official condolence resolution. During Maduro’s rule, the Sathya Sai organisation continued operating in Venezuela. This followed even as several foreign institutions were expelled.
Venezuela has one of Latin America’s largest Sai Baba devotee communities. In 2024, the government also issued National Day invitations featuring the "om" symbol. Just months before his capture in November 2025, Maduro marked the godman’s centenary, calling Sai Baba a "being of light" in a statement, the report added.
Notably, in 2023, the Executive Vice-President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, currently serving as the interim president, also visited Andhra Pradesh to pay respects to Sathya Sai Baba. She was accompanied by Vice Foreign Minister Capaya Rodríguez and made a personal visit to the Prasanthi Nilayam while in India for the G20 Summit.
