VENEZUELA’S deposed leader, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were taken into custody in the United States (US) pleaded not guilty on Monday to four criminal counts including narco-terrorism, cocaine importation conspiracy and possession of machine guns and destructive devices.
They were escorted by armed guards shortly after 7 a.m. (1200 GMT) from a Brooklyn detention facility to a helicopter that flew them to a federal court in Manhattan, where they were scheduled to appear for a midday hearing on drug-related charges.
US prosecutors allege that Maduro presided over a cocaine-trafficking network that collaborated with violent criminal groups, including Mexico’s Sinaloa and Zetas cartels, Colombia’s FARC rebels, and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang.
Reuters quoted him as saying “I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country,” through an interpreter.
The United Nations was to debate the legality of United States President Donald Trump’s extraordinary operation that captured the accused and his wife as the court’s proceeding progressed.
However, the court adjourned after 30-minute hearing and scheduled the next session for March 17.
The ICIR reported on January 3 that Trump said American forces carried out what he described as a “large-scale strike” in Venezuela, while led to Maduro and his wife’s arrest. The couple was immediately flown to the US.
The 63-year-old leader has consistently denied the allegations levelled against him, describing them as a pretext for imperialist ambitions targeting Venezuela’s oil resources.
The operation marks the largest US intervention in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama, with Special Forces flying into Caracas by helicopter over the weekend, breaching Maduro’s security cordon and seizing him at the entrance of a safe room.
While denouncing Maduro as a dictator and drug kingpin responsible for flooding the United States with cocaine, Trump has been open about his desire to gain access to Venezuela’s oil wealth.
According to Reuters, the country holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, around 303 billion barrels, mostly heavy crude in the Orinoco Belt, but years of mismanagement, chronic underinvestment and US sanctions have crippled the sector, with output averaging about 1.1 million barrels per day last year, roughly a third of production levels seen in the 1970s.
Trump has warned of further strikes if Venezuela fails to cooperate in opening up its oil industry and curbing drug trafficking. He also issued threats toward Colombia and Mexico, and claimed that Cuba’s communist government “appears close to collapse.”
Trump has also defended Maduro’s capture as a response to the surge of Venezuelan migrants, about one in five of whom fled during the country’s economic collapse and to Venezuela’s nationalisation of US oil interests decades earlier.
Maduro, a former bus driver, union leader and foreign minister handpicked by the late Hugo Chávez as his successor in 2013, is expected to be held in a cell for up to 23 hours a day at New York’s Metropolitan Detention Center.
The facility has previously housed figures such as hip-hop mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, both of whom have criticised its conditions as inhumane.
Meanwhile, Switzerland Federal Council announced an immediate freeze on any assets held in the country by Maduro and his associates on Monday.
The council said that the freeze, which will remain in place for four years, is intended to prevent the possible flight of illicit funds and supplements the sanctions Switzerland has imposed on Venezuela since 2018.
Swiss authorities clarified that the measure did not apply to members of Venezuela’s current government. They added that any assets determined to have been illegally obtained would be returned for the benefit of the Venezuelan people.
Describing the situation in Venezuela as volatile, the Federal Council said several scenarios could unfold in the coming days and weeks, noting that Switzerland was closely monitoring developments.
It urged all parties to exercise restraint and de-escalate tensions.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.