Captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro arrives at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, as he heads towards the Daniel Patrick Manhattan United States Courthouse for an initial appearance to face U.S. federal charges in New York on Monday.Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
Declaring himself a “prisoner of war,” Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking, terrorism and weapons charges, while his lawyer signaled that he may seek to challenge the case based on Mr. Maduro’s role as a head of state and his “abduction” by the U.S. military.
Mr. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were arraigned in a Manhattan federal court on Monday, two days after American troops shot their way into the couples’ compound in Caracas and spirited them away. They were remanded in custody.
A courtroom sketch of captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores during their arraignment at a Manhattan federal courthouse on Monday.Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
According to reporters in the courtroom, Mr. Maduro’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, said the Venezuelan president was pleading not guilty to all four charges against him.
“I’m innocent. I’m not guilty. I am a decent man,” Mr. Maduro told the court. “I am still president of my country.” Later, as he left court, he described himself as “a kidnapped president, prisoner of war.”
Ms. Flores said she was “not guilty, completely innocent.” She was represented by lawyer Mark Donnelly.
The case is being presided over by Judge Alvin Hellerstein, a 92-year-old appointed by former president Bill Clinton.
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Mr. Pollack said that the circumstances of Mr. Maduro’s capture, which many countries have argued violates international law, might be part of his defence. “There are questions about the legality of his military abduction,” said Mr. Pollock, who declined to seek bail for the time being.
The U.S. has not recognized Mr. Maduro as the legal president of Venezuela since he was accused of rigging his 2018 re-election.
Deposed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrived in Manhattan via a U.S. government helicopter ahead of a court appearance on drug trafficking charges.
Reuters
Mr. Maduro’s and Ms. Flores’s lawyers indicated that both have health problems, and that Ms. Flores was injured during her capture. She wore a bandage on her head in court. Both wore prison uniforms and used headsets for English-Spanish translation.
Mr. Maduro said he had only seen the indictment for the first time at the hearing and was unsure of his rights. When Judge Hellerstein offered to read the document out to him, Mr. Maduro said he preferred to read it himself. He also confirmed with the judge that he would have access to his notes while preparing his defence.
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At one point, when asked to confirm his identity, Mr. Maduro attempted to speak at greater length before Judge Hellerstein silenced him.
“I was captured at my home in Caracas,” Mr. Maduro began, before the the judge cut him off. “There will be a time and a place to go into all of this,” Judge Hellerstein said.
Mr. Maduro and Ms. Flores are being held in a jail in Brooklyn, and their transport between it and the courthouse involved two armoured vehicles and a helicopter.
Police separate supporters and detractors of ousted Mr. Maduro outside the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse after Maduro attended his arraignment hearing on Monday in New York.BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP/Getty Images
Outside the court in Lower Manhattan – near where U.S. President Donald Trump was convicted in a hush-money case in 2024 – police separated groups of rival protesters.
As Mr. Maduro’s hearing ended, a man in the gallery told him that he would pay for what he had done, to which Mr. Maduro responded that he would win his freedom.
The hearing happened just hours after one of the couple’s co-accused – Mr. Maduro’s son, Nicolás Maduro Guerra – denounced the arrests in Venezuela’s legislature. “If we normalize the kidnapping of a head of state, no country is safe,” he said, before adding: “If they are Monroe, we are Simón Bolívar,” referring to the 19th-century hero of South American independence.
Nicolás Maduro Guerra, son of the captured President Maduro, delivers a speech to supporters of his father outside the National Assembly in Caracas on Monday.JUAN BARRETO/AFP/Getty Images
Mr. Trump has repeatedly referenced the Monroe Doctrine – the U.S.’s 1820s policy that posits Washington’s hegemony over the Western Hemisphere – as justification for attacking Venezuela and capturing Mr. Maduro.
The U.S. President on Sunday evening reasserted that “we’re in charge” of Venezuela and would bring in U.S. oil companies to take over the country’s energy infrastructure. He said Mr. Maduro’s subordinates, who remain in power in Caracas, would cooperate with the U.S. or face further military attacks.
Mr. Trump also vowed that Colombian President Gustavo Petro would not last long in office, reiterated his call for the U.S. to annex Greenland and mused about sending troops into Mexico to fight drug cartels.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro in July, 2024. On Monday Mr. Trump made threats against Mr. Petro, the elected leader of a democratic country, vowing he wouldn’t last long in office.LUIS ACOSTA/AFP/Getty Images
Mr. Petro, a leftist who has clashed with Mr. Trump before rhetorically, described the U.S. President’s behaviour as an “illegitimate threat” on X. Unlike the authoritarian Mr. Maduro, Mr. Petro is the elected leader of a democratic country.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen asked Mr. Trump to stop threatening Greenland’s sovereignty. “I therefore strongly urge the United States to cease its threats against a historically close ally, and against another country and another people who have stated very clearly that they are not for sale,” she said in a statement.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who is trying not to upset Mr. Trump while the two countries face an upcoming high-stakes trade negotiation with Canada, shrugged off the threat of U.S. troops on her soil as “just President Trump’s manner of speaking.”