NEW YORK (NewsNation) — Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro pleaded not guilty Monday in a New York courtroom, declaring that he is a “decent man” and was “captured.”
“I was captured,” Maduro said in Spanish as translated by a courtroom reporter before being cut off by the judge. Asked later for his plea to the charges, he stated, “I’m innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the president of my country.”
Maduro was making his first appearance in a U.S. courtroom Monday on the narco-terrorism charges the Trump administration used to justify capturing him and bringing him to New York.
Maduro, wearing a blue jail uniform, and his wife, Cilia Flores, were led into court for a brief but required legal proceeding that will likely kick off a prolonged legal fight over whether he can be put on trial in the U.S. Both put on headsets to hear the English-language proceeding as it is translated into Spanish.
The couple was transported under armed guard from a Brooklyn jail, where they’ve been detained, to a Manhattan courthouse.
DOJ: Nicolas Maduro led drug, weapons operation in Venezuela
Maduro was captured by U.S. forces on Saturday at the direction of President Donald Trump. Authorities said the U.S. military first conducted strikes on the capital city of Caracas before taking Maduro into custody, transporting him to New York City.
Maduro faces four counts of narcoterrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
Prosecutors also allege Maduro and Flores ordered beatings, kidnappings and killings “against those who owed them drug money or otherwise undermined their drug trafficking operation,” among a slew of other accusations. The charges mirror a 2020 indictment filed during Trump’s first term, but this case adds charges against Flores.
AG Pam Bondi: Maduro to ‘face wrath’ of court
Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on social media that Maduro and Flores “will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”
The Justice Department has assembled a team of 10 attorneys representing the U.S. in the trial, which is viewed as historic and unprecedented, given Maduro’s status as a former foreign leader and the circumstances of his capture.
Some legal experts have drawn comparisons to former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, who was captured during a U.S. military invasion and later tried in a U.S. court on drug charges.