FILE - In a Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015 file photo, Venezuela's first lady Cilia Flores arrives to the National Pantheon for a ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of independence hero Simon Bolivar in Caracas, Venezuela. Two nephews of Venezuela's first lady are set to go on trial on drug charges in New York City. Jury selection begins Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016, with opening statements not expected until Monday in the trial of Efrain Campo, 29, and Francisco Flores, 30. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File) (The Associated Press)
NEW YORK – Two nephews of Venezuela's first lady are set to go on trial on drug charges in New York City.
Jury selection begins Wednesday for the nephews of first lady Cilia Flores. Twenty-nine-year-old Efrain Campo and 30-year-old Francisco Flores have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to import 800 kilograms of cocaine into the United States. The men were arrested in Haiti last November and flown to New York.
Prosecutors are seeking to introduce evidence suggesting that the men had hoped to generate large amounts of cash through drug deals to help their family oppose enemies — including the United States — before elections last December.
Defense attorneys say recorded conversations between the nephews and confidential informants for the U.S. government contain "highly politicized statements" instigated by the informants. They want them excluded from trial.
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