‘I’m a prisoner of war’
The sound of leg shackles clinking could be heard before Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro entered the door of a New York City courtroom for the first time.
He then told the crowd of reporters and the public that he had just been “kidnapped.”
Minutes after his entrance, Judge Alvin Hellerstein asked Maduro to confirm his identity so the trial could begin.
“I am Nicolás Maduro. I am the president of the Republic of Venezuela and I have been kidnapped here since January 3,” he told the court in calm Spanish before being translated by an interpreter for the court. “I was captured at my home in Caracas, Venezuela.”
The 92-year-old judge quickly intervened, telling Maduro that there would be “a time and a place to get into all of this.”
In a dramatic 40-minute hearing on Monday afternoon, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty to drug and weapons charges.
“I am innocent. I am a decent man,” Maduro said, adding that Flores was “completely innocent.”
The 63-year-old man and his wife were arrested by US forces at their Venezuelan compound on Saturday and transferred to a New York prison as part of a surprise overnight operation that also included attacks on military bases.
The pair, wearing blue and orange prison shirts and khaki pants, wore headphones and listened to a Spanish translation during the hearing, with an attorney sitting between them. Maduro took meticulous notes in his yellow notebook and asked the judge to confirm that he could stay with him after the hearing.
When Maduro entered the federal courtroom where Sean “Diddy” Combs was tried and sentenced just months ago, he nodded and greeted several people in the audience.
He maintained this calm, expressionless demeanor throughout the hearings and even at the end, when a man watching from the public square suddenly shouted that Maduro would “pay” for his crimes.
“I’m a president and a prisoner of war,” he shouted in Spanish to a man in the audience. The man was then taken out of the room in tears.
The hearing was also emotional for others in the court. Venezuelan reporter Maibort Petit, who follows the Maduro administration, said that US missile attacks during Maduro’s arrest damaged the family home near Fuerte Tiuna in Caracas.
He said it was surreal to watch his former leader being carried into court by US marshals in prison garb.
Maduro’s wife, Flores, was much quieter; He had bandages near his eyes and forehead due to injuries he suffered during his weekend arrests, his lawyers said.
She spoke softly, tying her blonde hair in a bun, as her lawyers demanded that she be given appropriate medical treatment, including potentially X-rays of bruised ribs and a fracture.
Maduro and his wife did not seek bail during the hearings but could do so at a later date, meaning they would remain in federal custody.
The US has charged Maduro with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
Maduro was indicted along with his wife, son and many others. The next hearing of the case will be held on March 17.
