A defiant Nicolás Maduro declared himself "the president of my country" as he protested his capture and pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to the federal drug trafficking charges that the Trump administration used to justify removing him from power in Venezuela.
"I was captured," Maduro said in Spanish as translated by a courtroom reporter before being cut off by the judge. Asked later for his plea to the charges, he stated: "I'm innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the president of my country."
The courtroom appearance, Maduro's first since he and his wife were seized from their home in a stunning middle-of-the-night military operation, kicks off the US government's most consequential prosecution in decades of a foreign head of state. The criminal case in Manhattan is unfolding against a broader diplomatic backdrop of an audacious US-engineered regime change that President Donald Trump has said will enable his administration to "run" the South American country.
Maduro was led into court along with his co-defendant wife just before noon (local time) for the brief legal proceeding. Both put on headsets to hear the English-language proceeding as it was translated into Spanish.
The couple was transported to the Manhattan courthouse under armed guard early Tuesday from the Brooklyn jail where they've been detained since arriving in the US.
A legal fight begins
As a criminal defendant in the US legal system, Maduro will have the same rights as any other person accused of a crime — including the right to a trial by a jury of regular New Yorkers. But he'll also be nearly — but not quite — unique.
The stakes were made clear from the outset as Maduro, who took copious notes throughout the proceedings and wished a Happy New Year to reporters in court, repeatedly pressed his case that he had been unlawfully abducted.
"I am here kidnapped," Maduro said. "I was captured at my home in Caracas."
US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, a 92-year-old Clinton appointee, interrupted him, saying: "There will be time and place to go through all of this." Hellerstein added that Maduro's attorney could do so later.
"At this time, I just want to know if you are Nicolás Maduro Moros," which Maduro confirmed that he was.
Maduro's lawyers are expected to contest the legality of his arrest, arguing that he is immune from prosecution as head of state. Barry Pollack, a prominent Washington lawyer whose clients have included WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, said Maduro is "head of a sovereign state and entitled to the privilege" that the status ensures. He also said the defence would raise "questions about the legality of his military abduction."
Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega unsuccessfully tried the same immunity defence after the US captured him in a similar military invasion in 1990. But the US doesn't recognise Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate head of state — particularly after a much-disputed 2024 re-election.
Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores, also pleaded not guilty on Tuesday. She had bandages on her forehead and right temple, and her lawyer said she had suffered "significant injuries" during her capture.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were filmed getting off a helicopter on their way to Manhattan’s Federal Court. (Source: WABC-TV / Associated Press). (Source: Associated Press)
A 25-page indictment accuses Maduro and others of working with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tonnes of cocaine into the US. They could face life in prison if convicted.
Among other things, the indictment accuses Maduro and his wife of ordering kidnappings, beatings and murders of those who owed them drug money or undermined their drug trafficking operation. That included a local drug boss' killing in Caracas, the indictment said.
Outside the courthouse, police separated protesters of the US military action from pro-intervention demonstrators. Inside the courtroom, as Maduro stood to leave with federal officers, a man in the audience stood and began speaking forcefully at him in Spanish, calling him an "illegitimate" president.
The man, 33-year-old Pedro Rojas, said later that he had been imprisoned by the Venezuelan regime. As deputy US marshals led Maduro from the courtroom, the deposed leader looked directly at the man and shot back in Spanish: "I am a kidnapped president. I am a prisoner of war."
Demands for Maduro's return
The US seized Maduro and his wife in a military operation early Saturday, capturing them in their home on a military base. Trump said Saturday the US would "run" Venezuela temporarily and reiterated Sunday night that "we're in charge" and told reporters on Air Force One that "we're going to run it, fix it."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio had tried to strike a more cautious tone on Sunday morning talk shows, saying the US would not govern the country day-to-day other than enforcing an existing "oil quarantine."
Before his capture, Maduro and his allies claimed US hostility was motivated by lust for Venezuela's rich oil and mineral resources.
Trump has suggested that removing Maduro would enable more oil to flow out of Venezuela, but oil prices rose a bit more than 1% in Tuesday morning trading to roughly US$58 a barrel (NZ$95 a barrel). There are uncertainties about how fast oil production can be ramped up in Venezuela after years of neglect, as well as questions about governance and oversight of the sector.
Venezuela's new interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, has demanded that the US return Maduro, who long denied any involvement in drug trafficking — although late Sunday she also struck a more conciliatory tone in a social media post, inviting collaboration with Trump and "respectful relations" with the US.
Rodríguez was sworn in on Tuesday by her brother, National Assembly leader Jorge Rodríguez.
"I come with sorrow for the suffering inflicted upon the Venezuelan people following an illegitimate military aggression against our homeland," she said with her right hand up. "I come with sorrow for the kidnapping of two heroes."
Maduro's son and Venezuelan congressman Nicolás Maduro Guerra warned on Tuesday that his father's capture could set a dangerous precedent globally and demanded that his parents be returned.
"If we normalise the kidnapping of a head of state, no country is safe. Today it's Venezuela. Tomorrow it could be any nation that refuses to submit. This is not a regional problem. It is a direct threat to global political stability," Maduro Guerra said.
Also Tuesday, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting, with the top UN official warning that America may have violated international law with its unilateral action.
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