Nicolás Maduro Pleads Not Guilty in US Court After Capture on Narco-Terrorism Charges Amid Venezuela Crisis

Deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro pleaded not guilty in the US court and told the judge, “I am a decent man, the president of my country.”Maduro made his first appearance in a US courtroom on January 5 following his capture on the narco-terrorism charges the Trump administration used to justify capturing him and bringing him to New York.
Maduro and his wife were transported under armed guard early Monday from the Brooklyn jail where they’ve been detained to a Manhattan courthouse.
The trip was swift. A motorcade carrying Maduro left jail around 7:15 am and made its way to a nearby athletic field, where Maduro slowly made his way to a waiting helicopter. The chopper flew across New York harbour and landed at a Manhattan heliport, where Maduro, limping, was loaded into an armoured vehicle.A few minutes later, the law enforcement caravan was inside a garage at the courthouse complex, just around the corner from the one where Donald Trump was convicted in 2024 of falsifying business records.

As a criminal defendant in the US legal system, Maduro will have the same rights as any other person accused of a crime — including the right to a trial by a jury of regular New Yorkers. But he’ll also be nearly — but not quite — unique.

Venezuela’s new interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, has demanded that the US return Maduro, who long denied any involvement in drug trafficking — although late January 4, she also struck a more conciliatory tone in a social media post, inviting collaboration with President Trump and “respectful relations” with the US.

Before his capture, Maduro and his allies claimed US hostility was motivated by lust for Venezuela’s rich oil and mineral resources.

The US seized Maduro and his wife in a military operation on January 3, capturing them in their home on a military base. Trump said the US would “run” Venezuela temporarily, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it would not govern the country day-to-day, other than enforcing an existing “oil quarantine”.

Trump suggested that he wants to extend American power further in the western hemisphere.

A 25-page indictment made public on January 3 accuses Maduro and others of working with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the US. They could face life in prison if convicted.

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been under US sanctions for years, making it illegal for any American to take money from them without first securing a license from the Treasury Department.

With inputs from Agencies