Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, both in handcuffs, are escorted by federal agents to a court in Manhattan
(XNY/STAR MAX/GC IMAGES)The deposed Venezuelan president Nic olás Maduro pleaded not guilty to drugs, weapons and narco-terrorism charges on Monday, two days after his capture by US special forces in an operation ordered by Donald Trump that sent shock waves around the world.
The brevity and formality of the arraignment hearing in federal court in Manhattan – barely 30 minutes during which Maduro was asked to confirm his name and that he understood the four charges – belied the far-reaching consequences of the US action.
As Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, addressed the court in Lower Manhattan, the UN security council held an emergency meeting just a few kilometres to the north, where a dozen countries condemned the US “crime of aggression” and secretary general António Guterres suggested the operation constituted a breach of international law.
Maduro, 63, insisted to federal judge Alvin Hellerstein that he was “still president of my country”, had been illegally “captured”, and was “a prisoner of war”.
“I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man,” Maduro said in Spanish during repeated attempts to speak over the judge.
He was first indicted in 2020 as part of a drug-trafficking case against Venezuelan officials and Colombian guerrillas.
Each charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Flores, the Venezuelan first lady, was also captured in the pre-dawn raid last Saturday in which at least 40 people were killed, including civilians and Venezuelan and Cuban security personnel. Her lawyer, Mark Donnelly, said she sustained “significant injuries during her abduction”. Flores, who had Band-Aids on her temple and forehead, said, when she entered her not guilty plea, she was “completely innocent”.
The prospect of the United States seizing direct control of Venezuela appeared to recede less than 48 hours after the shocking ousting of Maduro – but US officials warned they might make a fresh military intervention if the interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, did not accommodate their demands.
Speaking to reporters late last Sunday, Donald Trump also raised the possibility of military action in Colombia. In the immediate aftermath of Maduro’s abduction, Trump said the US would “run” the South American country of 30 million people. On Sunday, he warned the US might launch a second strike if remaining members of the administration do not cooperate with his efforts to get the country “fixed.”
Rodríguez, 56, had last Saturday pledged fealty to Maduro and condemned his capture as an “atrocity”, but then called for a “balanced and respectful” relationship with the US.
“We extend an invitation to the US government to work together on an agenda for cooperation that is aimed toward shared development,” Rodríguez said after holding her first cabinet meeting since Maduro’s ouster.
A protest near the Miraflores Palace in Caracas last weekend, demanding the return of Maduro
(MIGUEL GUTIERREZ/EPA)The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, spoke to Rodríguez, who told him “‘we’ll do whatever you need’”, Trump told reporters.
Trump was dismissive about the opposition leader María Corina Machado, the Nobel peace prize winner who mobilised Edmundo González’s winning presidential campaign last year, and said she lacked “support” in Venezuela. Millions of Venezuelans revere Machado but she is loathed by the military hierarchy that props up the regime.
In the capital, Caracas, senior government and military figures demanded the return of Maduro but pledged support for Rodríguez as a stand-in leader.
“I call on the people of Venezuela to resume their activities of all kinds, economic, work and education,” Vladimir Padrino López, the defence minister, said in a televised address.
In comments to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump raised the possibility of further US interventions in Latin America, and suggested Colombia and Mexico could also face military action if they do not reduce the flow of illicit drugs to the United States.
“Operation Colombia sounds good to me,” Trump said. He also said that Cuba, a close ally of Venezuela, “looks like it’s ready to fall” on its own without US military action.
‘There is not a war. We are at war against drug trafficking, not a war against Venezuela’
President Trump at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago in Florida last Saturday after the capture of Maduro in Venezuela
(ABACA/SHUTTERSTOCK)In a round of TV interviews, Rubio downplayed the possibility of invasion or occupation of Venezuela, but confirmed that the US was keeping a 15,000-strong force in the Caribbean.
“There’s not a war. We are at war against drug trafficking organisations, not a war against Venezuela. We don’t have forces on the ground,” he told NBC.
The US will keep a “quarantine” around Venezuela to block the entry and exit of oil tankers to sustain “leverage” over Maduro’s successor, said Rubio. “We will make our assessment on what they do, not what they say publicly.”
He said the Cuban government was a “huge problem” and in a “lot of trouble”, but declined to elaborate.
The Cuban government confirmed that the US operation in Venezuela killed 32 Cuban military and police officers who were there at the request of the government in Caracas.
The governments of Spain, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Uruguay said in a joint statement that US actions “constitute a dangerous precedent for peace and regional security and endanger the civilian population”. Keir Starmer said Britain was not involved but refused to condemn it.
All EU countries except Hungary issued a statement calling for restraint by “all actors” and respect for the Venezuelan people in order to “restore democracy”.
Special forces raid
How the US military snatched Maduro Page 12 →
Analysis
The ‘Putinisation’ of US foreign policy has arrived Page 14 →
Stockpiling, not partying
Citizens of Caracas voice their shock and anger Page 15 →
Explainer
What role the US will play in Venezuela’s oil industry Page 17 →
VICTORIA BEKIEMPIS IS A REPORTER BASED IN NEW YORK; RICHARD LUSCOMBE IS A REPORTER FOR GUARDIAN US ■