{"id":89226,"date":"2026-01-05T02:27:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T02:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/89226\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T02:27:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T02:27:19","slug":"venezuelas-maduro-captured-held-at-mdc-in-sunset-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/89226\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela\u2019s Maduro captured, held at MDC in Sunset Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

Protesters gather outside Metropolitan Detention Center on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in New York. AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura<\/p>\n

SUNSET PARK \u2013 VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT NICOLAS Maduro, along with his wife Cilia Flores, on Saturday were captured at their residence in Caracas by U.S. troops in an explosive raid, before being transported to New York to stand trial in Manhattan federal court for allegedly collaborating with narcotics cartels to destabilize the U.S., reports CNN<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The pair are currently being held at Sunset Park\u2019s Metropolitan Detention Center, the city\u2019s only federal prison, after being charged<\/a> with narco-terrorism, importing cocaine and possessing machine guns. An indictment for Maduro was initially issued in 2020 in the Southern District of New York; a fresh indictment was unsealed on Saturday, also naming his wife and son. He is expected to appear in court on Monday.<\/p>\n

\"PresidentPresident Nicolas Maduro gestures during a news conference at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, three days after his disputed reelection. AP Photo\/Matias Delacroix<\/p>\n

The highly unusual move comes after months of escalating tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela over issues including narcotics production, the South American country\u2019s ongoing refugee crisis, and the expropriation of the assets of American oil companies under previous Venezuelan leaders. 116 people are believed to have been killed in 2025 in American strikes against alleged Venezuelan smuggling boats from Navy vessels deployed off of the country\u2019s coastline.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump on Saturday said that no American troops or equipment had been lost in the raid. It was not clear what losses Venezuela suffered; videos from Caracas showed explosions across the city, thought to be targeted at its air defense systems. The president also said that the U.S. would \u201crun\u201d Venezuela with the assistance of oil companies and that the U.S. was prepared to deploy troops to the country; the details of this plan were not elaborated on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"FederalFederal law enforcement personnel stand watch outside the Metropolitan Detention Center as they await the arrival of captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in New York. AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura<\/p>\n

The U.S., along with much of Europe and South America, does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate winner of the 2024 election over accusations of vote-rigging; while Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has assumed leadership, opposition politicians have called for further U.S. involvement in deposing Maduro\u2019s administration. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a longtime critic of Maduro, on Sunday signaled hesitance to support the opposition, saying that the U.S. does not believe its leaders have popular support.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The news of Maduro\u2019s capture generated significant shock among observers, along with condemnation and praise from various corners. New Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a> said that he had called Trump to state his opposition to what he described as a violation of international law. Senator Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries also criticized the strike, which they said was undertaken without Congressional approval. Reactions from the city\u2019s Venezuelan community were cautiously optimistic, with many celebrating<\/a> the leader\u2019s downfall, but others concerned for the future<\/a> and about Trump\u2019s comments on the oil industry.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Flags
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t9\/11 memorial events in Brooklyn<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 11 |
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAmericans mark the 24th anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks with emotional ceremonies<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 11 |
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVolunteers prep millions of meals for fellow New Yorkers on 24th anniversary of 9\/11<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 10 |
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2730PREMIUM
Canarsie Park holds 9\/11 vigil, other ceremonies hosted throughout Brooklyn<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 11 |
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\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Protesters gather outside Metropolitan Detention Center on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in New York. AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura SUNSET…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[3302,98,100,99,153,13254,9,24,15862,63,7318],"class_list":{"0":"post-89226","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-breaking","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","11":"tag-brooklyn-news","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-metropolitan-detention-center-mdc","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-nicolas-maduro","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-venezuela"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}