Maduro in NY court on U.S. drug charges as Venezuelans grapple with his capture

Toppled Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro arrived at a New York court on Monday to face U.S. drug trafficking charges after President Donald Trump’s stunning capture of him rattled world leaders and left officials in Caracas scrambling to respond.

U.N. Chief Antonio Guterres raised concerns about instability in Venezuela and the legality of Trump’s strike, the most dramatic U.S. intervention in Latin America since the 1989 Panama invasion. U.S. Special Forces swooped into Caracas by helicopter on Saturday, shattered his security cordon and dragged him from the threshold of a safe room.

On Monday morning, Maduro – his hands zip-tied – and his wife Cilia Flores were escorted by armed guards in tactical gear from a Brooklyn detention center to a helicopter bound for Manhattan federal court where they faced a noon (1700 GMT) hearing.

Maduro is accused of overseeing a cocaine-trafficking network that partnered with violent groups including Mexico’s Sinaloa and Zetas cartels, Colombian FARC rebels and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang.

Maduro, 63, has long denied the allegations, saying they were a mask for imperialist designs on Venezuela’s oil.

While world leaders and U.S. politicians grappled with the extraordinary seizure of a head of state, an emergency order in Venezuela, published in full on Monday, orders police to search and capture anyone who supported the U.S. attack. Amid global consternation at Trump’s seizure of a foreign head of state – albeit an unpopular one – the U.N. Security Council was due to debate its legality and implications. Russia, China and leftist allies of Venezuela have condemned the raid.

Maduro, wife to face U.S. drug charges

Maduro was expected to hear the charges against him and enter a plea during the arraignment hearing before U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein. He faces decades to life in prison on each count if convicted.

Prosecutors say Maduro has been involved in drug trafficking from the time he began serving in Venezuela’s National Assembly in 2000 to his tenure as foreign minister and subsequent 2013 election as the late president Hugo Chavez’s successor.

Federal prosecutors in New York first indicted him in 2020 as part of a long-running narcotics trafficking case against current and former Venezuelan officials and Colombian guerrillas. An updated indictment made public on Saturday added some new details and co-defendants, including Cilia Flores.

The U.S. has considered Maduro an illegitimate dictator since he declared victory in a 2018 election marred by allegations of massive irregularities. (Reuters)