Nicolás Maduro to appear in New York court on drugs and weapons charges | New York

Deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is expected to appear in Manhattan federal court Monday afternoon on drug and weapons charges following his extraordinary capture by U.S. special forces this weekend.

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured in a shocking pre-dawn raid on a settlement during Saturday’s attack on Caracas. At least 40 people, including civilians and Venezuelan soldiers, reportedly He died in the attack.

Footage from New York early Monday showed Maduro and his wife, handcuffed by armed police and wearing beige jumpsuits, being taken from a detention center in Brooklyn to a helicopter to be taken to court in Manhattan.

US President Donald Trump described the weekend attack on Venezuela, where Maduro was dethroned and captured, as a “great operation” and suggested that it could be a plan for other countries in Latin America, especially Colombia.

In New York, documents charging Maduro allege he presides over a “corrupt, illegitimate government that has used government power for decades to protect and promote illegal activities, including drug trafficking.”

The arrests came after months of US pressure on Maduro, which included attacks by alleged “narco bots”. These boat attacks resulted in the deaths of at least 110 people, and some legal experts have questioned whether the attacks were tantamount to war crimes.

In the weeks before this attack, the United States also seized sanctioned oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela. Trump imposed a blockade against other such ships, further restricting the oil-rich country’s already weakening economy.

Maduro’s son and three other people are also accused in the indictment. Maduro, who was indicted during Trump’s first presidency, faces charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

Trump, who previously promised to avoid foreign wars, said the US would control Venezuela for now. “We will govern until we can have a safe, appropriate and reasonable transition,” Trump said at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

“We cannot risk Venezuela being taken over by someone else who does not have the interests of Venezuelans in mind,” he also told reporters.

US forces do not control Venezuela, and Maduro’s government, led by acting president Delcy Rodríguez, who will be sworn in on Monday, appears to still rule the country.

Although Trump warned that he wasn’t afraid to “knock his shoes off,” he said he was “dealing with people who have just been sworn in.”

“If he doesn’t do the right thing, he’s going to pay a huge price, probably bigger than Maduro,” Trump told the Atlantic on Sunday.

Rodríguez said Sunday he was willing to work with Washington after first condemning Maduro’s capture as a kidnapping. The daughter of a leftist guerrilla fighter, Rodríguez was close to Maduro but was also known as a pragmatist with private sector connections.

“We invite the U.S. government to work together on a cooperation agenda for common development within the framework of international law to strengthen the lasting coexistence of societies,” Rodríguez said.

Trump also said the United States would take control of Venezuela’s oil industry. “We’re going to have our largest US oil companies anywhere in the world come in, spend billions of dollars, repair the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start bringing money into the country, and we’re prepared to launch a second, much larger attack if necessary.”

Speaking on Air Force One on Sunday evening, Trump suggested that Colombian President Gustavo Petro might be attacked, saying he was a “sick man who liked to do cocaine” and added: “He won’t be doing that for a very long time.” Asked by a reporter if he was specifically talking about a US operation, Trump replied: “Operation Colombia sounds good to me.”

Trump said a similar operation against Cuba may not be necessary because the Cuban government is “ready to fall” on its own. Separately, the Mexican president said he “likes” Claudia Sheinbaum but said the country must “get its act together” on drug trafficking or the United States will attack the cartels.

As for Greenland, the Danish region that Trump has long coveted due to its strategic location in the Arctic, Trump said: “Let’s talk about Greenland in 20 days.”

Top Democrats condemned Trump’s attack on Venezuela, calling it illegal and against US interests. The US constitution mandates that only Congress has the authority to declare war. Presidents must get approval from Congress for military operations under the 1973 War Powers Resolution.

“They literally lied to our face,” Democratic Connecticut senator Chris Murphy said Sunday. He was referring to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s briefing to Congress on Venezuela in December. “The message they sent was that this was not about regime change… They said it was just a counter-narcotics operation.”