{"id":393761,"date":"2026-01-05T19:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T19:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/393761\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T19:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T19:36:10","slug":"ousted-venezuelan-leader-nicolas-maduro-and-wife-cilia-flores-plead-not-guilty-in-new-york-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/393761\/","title":{"rendered":"Ousted Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and wife Cilia Flores plead not guilty in New York court"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ousted Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores have appeared in a New York court, pleading not guilty to multiple charges three days after their capture in Caracas.<\/p>\n

Mr Maduro and Ms Flores fronted court around noon, local time, for a brief hearing ahead of what is expected to be a prolonged legal battle over whether he can be put on trial in the United States.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for the deposed president are expected to contest the legality of his arrest, arguing that he is immune from prosecution as a sovereign head of state, the Associated Press reported.<\/p>\n

The US does not recognise Mr Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate head of state after a disputed 2024 presidential election.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Protesters both for and against Nicol\u00e1s Maduro’s capture gathered outside the courthouse in Manhattan. (Reuters: Jeenah Moon)<\/p>\n

Both Mr Maduro and Ms Flores put on headsets to hear a Spanish translation of Monday’s hearing.<\/p>\n

“I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the president of my country,” Mr Maduro said at one point.<\/p>\n

Ms Flores also pleaded not guilty to the charges against her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein ordered Mr Maduro appear again in court on March 17.<\/p>\n

Media and protesters flock to New York court<\/p>\n

The Venezuelan president and first lady were snatched from Caracas in a complex mission at the weekend, dubbed Operation Absolute Resolve.<\/p>\n

As part of it, the US military deployed around 150 aircraft from at least 20 different locations, as well as troops from the elite Delta Squadron.<\/p>\n

After his capture, the ousted leader, 63, was taken to New York City on charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States.<\/p>\n

\"Nicolas<\/p>\n

Nicolas Maduro is facing several charges, including narco-terrorism. (Reuters: @RapidResponse47\/handout)<\/p>\n

News agencies and the public began lining up outside the Manhattan court on Sunday night, local time, to secure a spot inside.<\/p>\n

By daybreak, dozens of cameras and reporters were out the front of the building.<\/p>\n

Mr Maduro and Ms Flores were flown 8 kilometres via helicopter from the Brooklyn detention centre they have been housed in to the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Manhattan United States Courthouse
\n around 8am Monday.<\/p>\n

The court has heard multiple other high-profile cases including that of Ghislaine Maxwell, Sean “Diddy” Combs and former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez.<\/p>\n

A small group of protesters has also gathered outside court holding signs demanding the US free Maduro and take its “hands off Venezuela”.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Nicol\u00e1s Maduro is being held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center. (Reuters: Jeenah Moon)<\/p>\n

Maduro, allies accused of aiding drug traffickers<\/p>\n

Mr Maduro has led the South American country since 2013<\/a>, succeeding former president Hugo Chavez.<\/p>\n

In the years since, he has overseen a collapse in Venezuela’s economy, instituted crackdowns on political opponents, and faced allegations of electoral fraud during 2024’s presidential election.<\/p>\n

In recent months, the Trump administration has conducted a pressure campaign against Mr Maduro’s government, alleging the Venezuelan leader is the unofficial leader of drug cartel C\u00e1rtel de los Soles.<\/p>\n

Nicol\u00e1s Maduro was ‘captured’ by the US. This is who he is<\/a><\/p>\n

The 63-year-old Venezuelan president was “captured” in a “large-scale strike”. Here is what is known about the man set to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States.<\/p>\n

The US government had previously issued a $US50 million ($74.5 million) reward for information seeking to the arrest and conviction of Mr Maduro.<\/p>\n

An indictment unsealed against Mr Maduro, his wife, his son and others alleged he and other Venezuelan leaders “abused their positions of public trust and corrupted once-legitimate institutions to import tons of cocaine into the United States”.<\/p>\n

The indictment alleged Mr Maduro and his allies “provided law enforcement cover and logistical support” to major drug trafficking groups, such as the Sinaloa Cartel and Tren de Aragua gang.<\/p>\n

These criminal organisations sent profits to high-ranking officials who protected them in exchange, the Justice Department said.<\/p>\n

ABC\/wires<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ousted Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores have appeared in a New York court, pleading…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2025,1108,43,1025,44,103842,40167,41,39,42,40,22474],"class_list":["post-393761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-charges","tag-court","tag-headlines","tag-new-york","tag-news","tag-nicolas-maduro","tag-president","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-venezuela"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}