Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s ousted president, will face trial in the United States on 1 June 2027, a judge has ruled, setting the stage for a landmark case following his capture in a US military raid in January.
Mr Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, appeared in a Manhattan courtroom for a hearing to determine the timetable in their US drug-trafficking case.
The proceedings took place before US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan federal court.
US commandos seized Mr Maduro, 63, and Ms Flores, 69, from their heavily guarded Caracas home during a nighttime military operation on 3 January ordered by President Donald Trump.
In a court filing submitted last night, prosecutors from the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office and lawyers representing Mr Maduro proposed beginning the trial in June 2027.
Judge Hellerstein ultimately approved the schedule, although both sides indicated they could seek changes as the case progresses.
Mr Maduro is charged with four felonies, including narcoterrorism conspiracy and conspiracy to import cocaine. A conviction could result in a life sentence.
Lawyers for both sides also proposed that the first round of defence motions seeking dismissal of the case be filed by 2 September.
Those motions are expected to include an argument that Mr Maduro, as the head of a sovereign state, should be protected from prosecution by immunity.
At Mr Maduro’s initial court appearance on 5 January, defence lawyer Barry Pollack also signalled a possible challenge to the indictment on the grounds that the circumstances of his capture may have been unlawful.
Mr Maduro, a socialist whose relationship with Washington was marked by years of hostility while he governed Venezuela from 2013 until his capture, described himself as a “prisoner of war” during the 5 January hearing.
He has repeatedly accused the United States of trying to remove him from power to secure greater control over the OPEC member’s vast oil reserves.
Washington has portrayed Mr Maduro as a corrupt dictator whose economic mismanagement drove Venezuela into collapse, while accusing him of manipulating his reelection votes in 2018 and 2024. The United States ceased recognising him as the country’s legitimate president in 2019.
Before the January raid, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel concluded in an advisory opinion that President Trump could lawfully order the operation without Congress because it advanced an important national interest and did not amount to a war requiring congressional authorisation.
The two sides said in their filing that Mr Maduro could submit a second series of legal motions by 11 January 2027, after prosecutors provide the defence with any classified evidence for review.
Mr Maduro last appeared in court on 26 March for a hearing concerning the US government’s ban on Venezuela’s government covering his legal expenses.
That dispute ended a month later, when the US government agreed to alter its financial sanctions on Venezuela so the government could pay the fees.
Since Mr Maduro’s capture, Venezuela has been led by his former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, who has forged closer relations with the Trump administration.
The United States has since relaxed sanctions targeting Venezuela’s oil industry, while foreign companies have widened their oil and gas operations in the country.
