SRINAGAR: Former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro has been spending much of his time in a Brooklyn prison reading the Quran, the Bible and other religious and philosophical texts, while also meeting prison chaplains, including a Christian priest and a Jewish rabbi, The New York Times has reported.
According to the newspaper, Maduro’s engagement with religion and spirituality appears to have deepened since his capture by US forces in January this year. Six people familiar with his circumstances and experiences in jail told the newspaper that the former president spends much of his spare time reading religious literature and studying philosophical texts.
The NYT report, published on November 8, said Maduro reads both the Bible and the Quran while held at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, a federal facility housing around 1,300 inmates. He has also been meeting religious representatives, including a priest and a rabbi.
Maduro, 63, has previously spoken publicly about his Jewish ancestry, describing himself as a descendant of a Sephardic Jewish community that migrated from the Dutch Antilles to Venezuela sometime in the last century. However, people close to him told the newspaper that he had not displayed any particular interest in Judaism before his arrest.
It remains unclear whether his recent interest in Judaism is primarily spiritual or intellectual.
Religious links
Religion has featured in Maduro’s political and personal life in different ways. During his presidency, he sought the support of Venezuela’s growing evangelical Christian constituency and developed a close relationship with a Catholic priest who shared his socialist ideology.
Maduro, his wife Cilia Flores and his successor Delcy Rodríguez were also followers of the late Indian spiritual guru Sathya Sai Baba, according to the report.
His present engagement with religious texts marks a further development in his longstanding interest in spirituality. The newspaper noted that his reading of the Bible had also been reported earlier by The New Yorker.
Maduro and his wife were captured by US Special Forces in Caracas on January 3, following an operation ordered by President Donald Trump. They were subsequently taken to the United States and are being held at the Brooklyn detention centre.
Maduro is housed in a unit that has previously accommodated several high-profile detainees, including Sean Combs, Sam Bankman-Fried and Luigi Mangione. Unlike Flores, who is held in the general prison population, Maduro remains in the separate unit.
The former Venezuelan president is scheduled to face trial next year on charges that include facilitating the trafficking of thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States. Flores has been charged under the same indictment. Both have pleaded not guilty.
The NYT report also said Maduro had lost considerable weight during his incarceration. People familiar with his eating habits attributed the weight loss partly to the quality of food available in prison. He had reportedly followed a so-called Paleo diet before his capture.
Flores’s health has also emerged as an issue in the proceedings. According to court documents cited by the newspaper, she was recovering from a hysterectomy when captured and has since been prescribed medication for chest pains. Her legal team has raised concerns about her health and alleged that she may have suffered a minor heart attack in July.
Her request for release was denied by the judge then presiding over the case, Alvin K. Hellerstein, who died last month at the age of 92. Judge Analisa Torres has since taken over the proceedings.
The newspaper based its account of Maduro’s religious engagement and prison life on interviews with six people familiar with his circumstances, who spoke anonymously because they were not authorised to comment publicly. Maduro’s legal team declined to comment.
