By Keerthi Ramesh
Long before Venezuela’s political crisis drew intense international scrutiny, President Nicolás Maduro nurtured a deeply personal connection far from Latin America, one that is rooted in India’s spiritual beliefs.
Recent media reports have revived interest in Maduro’s long-standing association with Sathya Sai Baba, the late Indian spiritual leader whose global following stretched from South Asia to Latin America. While the relationship never translated into formal policy or diplomacy, it offers a rare glimpse into the private influences shaping one of the Western Hemisphere’s most controversial figures.
Maduro, who was raised Catholic, was introduced to Sai Baba’s teachings in the early 2000s through his wife, Cilia Flores, according to Indian and Latin American media accounts. The couple later traveled to Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, home to Sai Baba’s Prasanthi Nilayam ashram, where they reportedly attended a private audience with the guru.
As Maduro climbed Venezuela’s political ranks, starting out as a labour leader, then as foreign minister, and eventually the president, his admiration for Sai Baba reportedly remained public. Media reports have noted that images of the spiritual leader (Sai Baba) were displayed alongside portraits of Venezuelan independence icons and former President Hugo Chávez in Maduro’s personal spaces, representing the symbolic importance the guru held for him.
READ: Why the US-Venezuela crisis matters to India’s energy and global strategy? (January 6, 2026)
The connection became specifically apparent in 2011, following Sai Baba’s death. At the time, Maduro, then Venezuela’s foreign minister, led official expressions of condolence, praising the guru’s message of service and moral discipline. Venezuelan institutions marked the occasion with formal tributes, a gesture that stood out in a principally Catholic nation.
Sai Baba’s influence was not limited to his personal devotion. Under Maduro’s leadership, Sai-affiliated service organizations continued to operate openly in Venezuela, running community programs focused on education and humanitarian aid. Today, Venezuela is home to one of the largest Sai Baba devotee communities in Latin America, reflecting the guru’s broader appeal beyond India.
For observers, the story highlights an often-overlooked dimension of global politics: the role of personal belief systems in shaping a leaders’ identities. While there is no evidence that Sai Baba’s teachings influenced Venezuelan state policy, the relationship underscores how spiritual affiliations can cross cultural and geographic boundaries.
This renewed attention comes as Venezuela remains stuck in political turmoil and economic hardship, with Maduro’s leadership facing ongoing international criticism. Against that backdrop, his spiritual ties to India offer a striking contrast, a reminder even that political figures often carry private influences that exist beyond ideology, power and geographical boundaries.
For Indian American communities, this information resonates as another example of India’s soft cultural footprint reaching unexpected corners of the world, carried not by formal diplomacy but by faith, symbolism and personal conviction.