Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is due to appear in a New York court on Monday, two days after he was abducted by US special forces during a military operation in Caracas.
U.S. forces arrested Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on Saturday and took them to New York, where they are facing multiple federal charges, including drug and weapons charges.
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Mr. Maduro’s court appearance schedule is as follows.
When and where will it be held?
Maduro is scheduled to appear before a federal judge at noon (17:00 Japan time).
His initial appearance will take place in the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Court for the Southern District of New York. Maduro is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein.
A court spokesperson told NBC News that Flores, who is also named as a defendant in the U.S. indictment unsealed Saturday, will appear in court on Monday.
What are the charges?
According to the indictment, the United States accuses Maduro of being at the forefront of corruption and of working with co-conspirators to “use ill-gotten power” to “transport thousands of tons of cocaine” to the United States.
Additionally, the indictment alleges that Mr. Maduro has “tainted” every public office he has ever held. It added that President Maduro “allows cocaine-fueled corruption to flourish for his own benefit, the benefit of members of his ruling regime, and the benefit of his family.”
Mr. Maduro is charged with four crimes:
Count 1, Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy: U.S. prosecutors say Maduro and his co-conspirators knowingly provided something of monetary value to a U.S.-designated “foreign terrorist organization” and its members. The indictment names these organizations as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The FARC is a leftist rebel group that signed a peace deal in 2016 but whose rebels have refused to lay down their arms and are still involved in drug trafficking. Segunda Marquetaria, the FARC’s largest dissident group. The National Liberation Army, another leftist rebel group in Colombia. Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. Los Zetas/Cartel del Norest, another Mexican drug cartel. and the Venezuelan gangster Torren de Aragua. Count 2, Conspiracy to Import Cocaine: Accuses President Maduro and his co-defendants of conspiring to manufacture, distribute, and import cocaine into the United States. Count 3, Possession of Machine Guns and Destructive Devices: The indictment charges the defendants with possession, carrying, and use of machine guns in connection with the drug trafficking offenses described above. Count 4, Conspiracy to Possess Machine Guns and Destructive Devices: Further charges the defendants with conspiring to use, carry, and possess such weapons in furtherance of drug trafficking.
The indictment also says Maduro and his co-defendants should forfeit the proceeds and assets obtained from their alleged crimes to the U.S. government.
Is there evidence of these charges?
There is little evidence that drugs are trafficked on a large scale from Venezuela. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s Global Drug Report for 2023, global cocaine production hit a record 3,708 tonnes, an increase of almost a third from 2022, with most coca cultivation occurring in Colombia, followed by Peru and Bolivia.
In 2023-2024, the smuggling route to the United States primarily passed through Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador rather than Venezuela, but it serves as a small transit corridor for Colombian cocaine moving to the eastern Caribbean.
Who is named in the indictment?
maduro
Maduro, 63, who became Venezuela’s president in 2013, was declared the winner of the 2024 election. His re-election was rejected as fraudulent by the United States and independent watchdogs such as the Carter Center. A UN panel of experts said the 2024 vote did not meet international standards.
Nine Latin American countries called for a review of the results with independent oversight.
President Maduro defended the election results and accused the opposition of violating the country’s sovereignty.
Since returning to the White House nearly a year ago, US President Donald Trump has expanded sanctions and punitive measures against Maduro and senior government officials.
The Trump administration has increased military pressure since August, sending warships and thousands of military personnel to the Caribbean Sea near Venezuela. Since then, it has carried out dozens of airstrikes against suspected Venezuelan drug ships, killing more than 100 people.
President Maduro responded by mobilizing Venezuela’s military.
During this time, the Caracas-based news network Globovision reported that President Maduro said: “From the north, the empire has gone mad, and like a rotten rehash, it is renewing the threat to peace and stability in Venezuela.”
But the day before Saturday’s U.S. attack on the country, Maduro had offered to hold talks to combat drug trafficking.
Flores Island
Flores, 69, married Maduro in 2013.
Flores, known more as the “first fighter” than the first lady, is a veteran lawyer and politician who rose to fame defending future President Hugo Chávez after the failed 1992 coup. She helped secure his release and later became a leading figure in Chavismo and the first woman to become president of Venezuela’s National Assembly. Chavismo, which promotes socialism and anti-imperialist politics, is a political movement started by Maduro’s mentor Chavez.
The indictment accuses Flores of participating in Maduro’s conspiracy to import cocaine.
other defendants
The indictment names four other Maduro co-conspirators: Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello; Ramon Rodríguez Chacin, former Venezuelan Interior Minister. Nicolas Maduro Guerra, Maduro’s son and Venezuelan politician. and Hector Rustenford Guerrero Flores, leader of Torren de Aragua, which was designated a “foreign terrorist organization” by the United States in February. However, most experts do not define Torren de Aragua as a “terrorist organization.”
It is not yet clear who will represent Maduro, Flores and the other defendants.
Who are the judges?
Hellerstein was born in New York in 1933. He was appointed to the federal bench in 1998 by former President Bill Clinton.
He is expected to advise Mr. Maduro and Mr. Flores of their rights on Monday and ask them whether they want to file a petition.
What’s the problem?
Mr. Maduro’s freedom is primarily at stake. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.
“This is not about President Maduro, but about access to oil deposits in Venezuela,” Ilias Bantekas, a professor of international law at Hamad bin Khalifa University in Qatar, told Al Jazeera. “This is the primary goal. Trump will not be content with just allowing US oil companies to gain concessions, he will ‘run’ the country with absolute and indefinite control over Venezuela’s resources.”
Venezuela’s oil reserves are primarily concentrated in the Orinoco Belt region in the eastern part of the country, covering an area of approximately 55,000 square kilometers (21,235 square miles).
The country has the world’s largest proven oil reserves (estimated at 303 billion barrels as of 2023), but mismanagement and U.S. sanctions mean it only earns a fraction of the revenue it once earned from crude oil exports.
In a post on his Truth Social platform last month, President Trump accused Venezuela of “stealing” U.S. oil, land and other assets and using that oil to fund crime, “terrorism” and human trafficking.
President Trump continued to make false claims even after Maduro’s arrest. At a press conference on Saturday, President Trump said the United States would “manage” Venezuela until a “safe, adequate and wise transition” is implemented.
“President Trump’s plan requires a large-scale military deployment, given that every state in South America except Argentina opposes US dominance in the region. We need to see how countries like Brazil and Colombia, including the BRICS, will react to this,” said Bantekas of Hamad bin Khalifa University.
In a joint statement released Sunday, the governments of Spain, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay said the U.S. actions in Venezuela “set an extremely dangerous precedent for peace and regional security, putting civilians at risk.”
Was President Maduro’s abduction legal?
The case is unusual because there are questions about how Maduro was arrested and whether it was legal. Russia, China and other Venezuelan allies have accused the United States of violating international law.
“In the event of an armed conflict between Venezuela and the United States, and given that Maduro is the head of his country’s military, he would be a legitimate target,” Bantecas said.
“However, under these circumstances, in the absence of an armed conflict between the two countries and an armed attack by Venezuela against the United States, the United States’ invasion of Venezuela, like the abduction of the president, violates Article 2, Section 4 of the United Nations Charter. This is an blatant act of aggression.”
Article 2, Section 4 of the United Nations Charter prohibits United Nations member states from threatening or using force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.
The United Nations Security Council on Monday will discuss the legality of the United States’ abduction of President Maduro.
“Given that Mr. Maduro is already in U.S. custody and in the United States, it is in the interests of all parties for him to appear in court. At the very least, Mr. Maduro can challenge the legality of his arrest and the jurisdiction of the court,” Bantecas said.
“The court itself has the obligation to determine whether it has jurisdiction and, as a preliminary matter, whether Mr. Maduro is immune from criminal prosecution. Even if these questions are resolved, and even if the court determines that it has jurisdiction and that Mr. Maduro is not immune from criminal prosecution, the prosecution will still have to prove its case.”
What’s next?
The Trump administration has not articulated a clear plan for Venezuela, and analysts say it is sending confusing signals.
In an interview with NBC News on Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that Washington has no intention of governing Venezuela on a day-to-day basis. He also told ABC News that the United States intends to “create the conditions” for Venezuela to no longer be a “drug trafficking paradise.”
On the same day, President Trump told reporters that the United States was prepared to launch a second military attack on Venezuela if the government refused to cooperate with his plan to “resolve” the situation in Venezuela.
President Trump said interim President Delcy Rodriguez could “pay a very high price” if she “does not do the right thing.”
Trump said the day before that Rodriguez had told Rubio he would do everything the United States asked him to do. “She really doesn’t have a choice,” Trump said.
On Monday, Rodriguez offered to help Trump. In a statement posted on social media, she called on President Trump for “cooperation” and called for a “respectful relationship.”
“President Donald Trump, our people, and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war,” she wrote.
Her conciliatory tone came a day after she appeared on state television and declared that Mr. Maduro remains Venezuela’s only legitimate president.
