Maduro Set To Make His First Appearance In U.S. Courtroom

NEW YORK (AP) — Deposed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro He will make his debut in an American courtroom on Monday on narco-terrorism charges justified by the Trump administration. catch him and bring him To New York.

Maduro and his wife are expected to appear before a judge at noon for a brief but necessary legal proceeding. a long legal battle on whether he can be tried in the United States.

The couple was transported under armed guard from the Brooklyn jail, where they were detained, to the Manhattan courthouse early Monday.

The trip was quick. A convoy carrying Maduro left the prison around 7:15 a.m. and headed for a nearby sports field; Here, Maduro slowly moved towards the helicopter waiting for him. The helicopter flew over New York harbor and landed at a helipad in Manhattan; Here, the limping Maduro was loaded into an armored vehicle.

Moments later, the law enforcement caravan was in a garage at the courthouse complex, just around the corner from the garage where Donald Trump was convicted of falsifying business records in 2024. Across the street from the courthouse, police separated a small but growing group of protesters from about a dozen pro-intervention demonstrators, including a man hoisting a Venezuelan flag protesting the U.S. action.

As a criminal defendant in the US legal system, Maduro will have the same rights as anyone else accused of a crime, including the right to be tried by a jury of ordinary New Yorkers. But it will also be almost—but not quite—unique.

Maduro’s lawyers are expected to challenge the legality of his arrest, arguing that as a sovereign head of state he is immune from investigation.

Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega unsuccessfully tried the same defense After the US captured him in a similar military invasion in 1990. But the United States does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela — especially after an attack. highly controversial 2024 re-election.

New interim president of Venezuela Delcy Rodriguezdemanded the US extradition of Maduro, who has long denied involvement in drug trafficking – but struck a more conciliatory tone in a social media post late Sunday, calling for cooperation with President Trump and “respectful relations” with the US.

Before his capture, Maduro and his allies claimed that US hostility was motivated by desire for Venezuela’s rich oil and mineral resources.

The USA captured Maduro and his wife at their home on a military base in a military operation on Saturday. Trump has said the United States will “run” Venezuela temporarily, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday he would not run the country on a day-to-day basis other than enforcing an existing arrangement. oil quarantine.”

Trump said Sunday he wanted it Further expand American power In the Western Hemisphere.

Speaking on Air Force One, he called Colombian president Gustavo Petro “a sick man who likes to make cocaine and sell it to the United States. And he won’t be doing that for a very long time.”

He called on Venezuelan Rodriguez to provide “full access” to his country or face consequences.

Trump claimed that Maduro’s removal would lead to more oil from Venezuela, but oil prices It rose just over 1% in Monday morning trading, reaching roughly $58 a barrel. There are uncertainties about how quickly oil production can be increased in Venezuela after years of neglect and necessary investments, as well as questions about the governance and control of the sector.

25-page indictment The report, made public on Saturday, accuses Maduro and others of working with drug cartels to facilitate drug shipments. thousands of tons of cocaine They could face life imprisonment if convicted in the US.

As of Sunday, it was unclear whether Maduro had yet retained a U.S. lawyer.

He and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been under U.S. sanctions for years, making it illegal for any American to receive money from them without a license from the Treasury Department.

The indictment against Maduro states that Venezuelan officials are working directly with the Tren de Aragua gang. US intelligence assessment The report, released in April based on input from 18 agencies of the intelligence community, found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government.

Maduro, his wife and freed son are indicted along with Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, Venezuela’s interior and justice minister, former interior and justice minister and alleged Tren de Aragua leader who was indicted in another case and remains at large.

The indictment accuses Maduro and his wife of, among other things, ordering the kidnapping, beating and killing of people who owed them drugs or undermined their drug trafficking operations. This included the murder of a local drug lord in Caracas, the indictment said.

According to the indictment, Maduro’s wife is also accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to arrange a meeting between a “large-scale drug trafficker” and the director of Venezuela’s National Drug Enforcement Agency in 2007; This results in additional monthly bribes, with some of the money going to Maduro’s wife, according to the indictment.

Associated Press writers John Hanna in Topeka, Kan., Josh Boak in Washington, Darlene Superville in Air Force One and Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report.