New York — The deposed Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro He is scheduled to make his first appearance in a US court on Monday on the drug-related terrorism charges the Trump administration used to justify. Arrest him and bring him To New York.
Maduro and his wife are expected to appear at noon before a judge for a short, but demanding, legal process that will likely begin A long legal battle On whether he can be brought to trial in the United States
The couple will be transferred from a Brooklyn jail to a Manhattan courthouse close to the courthouse where President Donald Trump was convicted in 2024 of falsifying business records.
As a criminal defendant in the US legal system, Maduro would have the same rights as anyone else accused of a crime — including the right to a trial before a jury of ordinary New Yorkers. But it will also be almost, but not quite, unique.
Maduro’s lawyers are expected to challenge the legality of his detention, arguing that he enjoys immunity from prosecution as a sovereign head of state.
Panamanian strong man Manuel NoriegaHe unsuccessfully tried the same defense After the United States arrested him in a similar military invasion in 1990. But the United States does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela – especially after Controversial 2024 re-election.
The new interim president of Venezuela Delcy RodriguezThe United States has demanded the return of Maduro, who has long denied any involvement in drug trafficking — though late Sunday it struck a more conciliatory tone in a social media post, calling for cooperation with Trump and the establishment of “respectful relations” with the United States.
Before his arrest, Maduro and his allies claimed that US hostility was motivated by a desire to gain access to Venezuela’s rich oil and mineral resources.
The United States detained Maduro and his wife in a military operation on Saturday, and arrested them at their home on a military base. Trump said the United States would “run” Venezuela temporarily, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that the United States would not rule the country day to day except to enforce existing law. Oil quarantine“.
Trump suggested on Sunday that he wanted to Expanding American power further In the Western Hemisphere.
Speaking aboard Air Force One, Colombian President Gustavo Petro described him as “a sick man who likes to make cocaine and sell it to the United States. He’s not going to do it for long.”
Rodriguez called on Venezuela to provide “full access” to her country, otherwise she will face the consequences.
A 25-page indictment Maduro and others, announced Saturday, were accused of working with drug cartels to facilitate drug shipments Thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States and could face life in prison if convicted.
It was not clear as of Sunday whether Maduro had yet appointed a U.S. attorney.
He and his wife, Celia Flores, have been under US sanctions for years, making it illegal for any American to take money from them without first obtaining a license from the Treasury Department.
While the indictment against Maduro says that Venezuelan officials worked directly with the Tren de Aragua cartel, a US intelligence assessment The report, published in April, based on input from 18 intelligence community agencies, found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government.
Maduro, his wife and his son – who remains at large – are charged alongside Venezuela’s interior and justice minister, the former interior and justice minister, and Hector Rostenford Guerrero Flores, an alleged leader of the Trinh de Aragua who has been criminally charged in another case and remains at large.
Among other things, the indictment accuses Maduro and his wife of ordering the kidnapping, beatings and killing of those who owed them drug money or undermining a drug trafficking operation. This included the killing of a local drug lord in Caracas, the indictment said.
Maduro’s wife is also accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in 2007 to arrange a meeting between a “large-scale drug trafficker” and the director of Venezuela’s National Narcotics Control Office, resulting in additional monthly bribes, with some of the money going to Maduro’s wife, according to the indictment.
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Hannah reported from Topeka, Kansas. Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington, Darlene Superville aboard Air Force One and Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report.