Inside The Notorious US Prison Housing Maduro: Who Are The Inmates Of Venezuela President? | World News

The United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro after his attack on Caracas on Saturday. The military offensive was carried out by the US Delta Force, which took Maduro to New York where he will face charges including drug trafficking. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday defended his decision to limit the Venezuela operation to the detention of Nicolas Maduro and his wife, describing it as a highly complex military mission focused on a single, primary target.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is being held in New York’s Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, a federal facility that has been widely criticized for its harsh and deteriorating conditions. Over the years, the prison has housed a number of high-profile inmates, including convicted terrorists Omar Abdel Rahman and Ramzi Yousef, arms dealer Viktor Bout, Mexican cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, disgraced cryptocurrency executive Sam Bankman-Fried, and musical artist Sean “Diddy” Combs.

The facility is also known as the place where convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who had ties to influential figures in politics, business and entertainment, was found dead in what authorities ruled a suicide.

Maduro’s current fellow detainees include Luigi Mangione, who is on trial for allegedly killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and has since gained a degree of public notoriety.

Conditions at the chronically overcrowded MDC have raised judicial concerns. In 2024, a federal judge called the situation so severe that it constituted “exceptional grounds” to prevent a defendant from being sent to the facility.

Trump framed Maduro’s capture as an anti-drug operation to create the impression of an ordinary law and order operation intended to circumvent international legal provisions against violating the sovereignty of nations.

For now, Maduro, who has been sworn in as his successor, has allowed Vice President Delcy Rodriguez to remain in place.

“He’s actually willing to do the things that we think are necessary to make Venezuela great again,” Trump said.

However, Rodríguez made a harsh objection and accused the USA of aggression and said, “This regime change will also allow the seizure of our energy, mineral and natural resources.”

“There is only one president in this country and his name is Nicolas Maduro,” he said.

“We will make decisions based on their actions and their actions in the coming days and weeks,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said of Rodriguez and the interim administration.

However, overshadowing the scenario, Trump said, “We will govern the country correctly” and “It will make a lot of money.”

This was probably a reference to Venezuela’s oil riches.

He accused Caracas of “stealing” US wealth for nationalizing the investments of American oil companies.

He also said there would be no troops on the ground in Venezuela without explaining how the United States would “govern” the country.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, also assumed the presidency of Edmundo Gonzalez, who is running against Maduro in 2024 elections that the United States and many international observers say are fraudulent.

Gonzales ran as an opposition candidate after Maduro blocked Machado from running in the election.

Although Trump supported the claim that the election was rigged and that the real winner was Gonzales, he remained silent on the issue.

The Justice Department said in its charging document that Maduro, along with his wife and current and former interior ministers, ran a drug operation for 25 years and “sat atop a corrupt, illegitimate government that has used government power to protect and promote illegal activities for decades.”

The indictment also names the leader of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which spread rapidly in the United States during former President Joe Biden’s administration, Colombian terrorist groups FARC and ELN, and Mexican drug cartels Sinaloa and Zeta.

Maduro and his associates are accused of working with these groups to run the alleged drug operation. (With inputs from IANS)