CARACAS: Ousted former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro's jailed wife Cilia Flores has a "very delicate" heart condition requiring surgery, Maduro's son told AFP on Monday, after Flores requested to be released on house arrest.
Flores, 69, was arrested alongside Maduro by US forces during a raid on Caracas on Jan 3 and taken to the United States to face trial on trafficking charges.
She is being held in the same federal prison in Brooklyn, New York, as Maduro.
Last month, her lawyer requested she be placed under house arrest, saying that she suffers from heart problems for which her prison conditions do not provide adequate care.
Maduro's son, Nicolas Maduro Guerra, said Flores is suffering from a "prolapsed" heart, a condition that, in rare, severe cases, can cause heart failure.
