‘I Was Kidnapped, I Am A Decent Man’: What Happened When Venezuelan President Maduro First Faced US Court | World News

New York: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro entered a Manhattan courtroom on Monday, January 5, wearing a blue prison uniform. He denied the charges that brought him there, declared himself “the president of my country” and described his capture as a “kidnapping”.

“I’m caught,” Maduro said in Spanish before the judge cut him off, according to a courtroom translation. When asked to defend himself, he said once again, “I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am an honest man, the president of my country.”

The hearing was Maduro’s first public appearance since he and his wife were detained from their homes during a midnight US military operation that Washington said justified removing him from power. The case, now in federal court, is the most significant case against a foreign head of state brought by the U.S. government in decades.

The criminal proceedings are being carried out in conjunction with US-backed efforts to change the regime in Caracas. President Trump said the move would allow his administration to “manage” Venezuela.

Maduro entered the courtroom shortly before noon with his wife, who is also one of the defendants. Both wore headphones to follow English conversations translated into Spanish. The appearance was brief and procedural. The next hearing date is scheduled for March 17.

The couple was transported under armed guard early that morning from a detention facility in Brooklyn, where they had been held since their arrival in the United States on Saturday.

The transfer was fast and tightly controlled. The convoy carrying Maduro left the prison around 7:15 a.m. and headed for a nearby sports field. From there, the Venezuelan president walked slowly towards the waiting helicopter. The plane crossed New York Harbor and landed at the Manhattan helipad, where he was loaded into an armored vehicle, visibly limping.

Within minutes, the motorcade pulled into a secure garage at the federal courthouse complex. The location is just around the corner from the courthouse where Trump was convicted in 2024 on charges of falsifying business records.

Outside, police kept a small but growing group of protesters isolated from a handful of pro-intervention demonstrators. At one point, a man pulled a Venezuelan flag over protesters opposing U.S. action.

As a defendant in the American legal system, Maduro has the same rights as any person accused of a crime, including the right to a jury trial of New York residents. His case is unusual, given his previous location and the circumstances of his arrest.

Maduro’s legal team is expected to challenge the legality of his capture, arguing that as a sitting head of state he is immune from investigation. A similar claim was unsuccessfully made by Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega after the United States captured him during a military invasion in 1990. The US government does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela, especially after his controversial re-election in 2024.

Venezuela’s Interim President Delcy Rodriguez has demanded the return of Maduro, who has long denied involvement in drug trafficking. He also struck a more conciliatory tone on social media Sunday night, calling for cooperation with the Trump administration and “respectful relations” with the United States.

Before his capture, Maduro and his allies said US hostility towards his government was motivated by interest in Venezuela’s vast oil and mineral wealth. The US military operation took place early on Saturday, when American forces entered the military base and detained Maduro and his wife in their home.

Trump said the United States would temporarily “rule” Venezuela. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday (January 4) that Washington would not manage the day-to-day affairs of the country other than enforcing an existing “oil quarantine.”

Trump has since signaled interest in expanding American influence in the Western Hemisphere. Speaking on Air Force One, he described Colombian President Gustavo Petro as “a sick man who likes to make cocaine and sell it to the United States. And he’s not going to do that for a very long time.”

Trump also warned Delcy Rodriguez to allow “full access” to Venezuela or face consequences. He suggested that Maduro’s removal would allow more Venezuelan oil to reach global markets.

Oil prices nevertheless rose slightly on Monday morning, January 5, rising more than 1 percent to nearly $58 per barrel. Analysts noted unresolved questions about governance and oversight in the energy sector, as well as uncertainty about how quickly production can increase after years of underinvestment.

The 25-page indictment, released Saturday, accuses Maduro and others of working with drug cartels to transport thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States. If found guilty, the defendants could be sentenced to life imprisonment.

Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores have been under US sanctions for years. These measures make it illegal for Americans to accept money from them without prior authorization from the Treasury Department.

The indictment alleges that Venezuelan officials cooperated directly with the Tren de Aragua criminal gang. A U.S. intelligence assessment released in April, based on input from all 18 agencies in the intelligence community, found no evidence of coordination between the Venezuelan government and Tren de Aragua.

The charges include Maduro, his wife and son, who are freed, as well as Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, Venezuela’s minister of interior and justice, former minister of interior and justice, and alleged leader of Tren de Aragua, who was charged in a separate case and is free.

Prosecutors accuse Maduro and his wife of ordering the kidnapping, beating and killing of people who owed drug debts or threatened their smuggling operations. The indictment also includes the murder of a local drug lord in Caracas.

Cilia Flores is also accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in 2007 to arrange a meeting between what prosecutors described as a “large-scale drug trafficker” and the director of Venezuela’s National Drug Enforcement Agency. The meeting led to continued monthly bribes, with some of the money directed to Maduro’s wife, according to the indictment.