Nicolas Maduro pleads not guilty in New York after U.S. raid; judge orders ex-Venezuelan leader held without bail
Toppled Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges in a federal courtroom in Manhattan, days after he was taken into U.S. custody during a predawn raid in Caracas that officials said involved air and naval support.
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Maduro, 63, spoke softly through a Spanish interpreter but struck a defiant tone. “I’m innocent. I’m not guilty,” he told the judge. He said he is the “president of the Republic of Venezuela” and claimed he had been “kidnapped” on Jan. 3 from his home in the Venezuelan capital.
Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, also pleaded not guilty. A judge ordered both to remain behind bars and set a new hearing for March 17.
News of the court appearances reverberated in Caracas, where thousands marched in support of Maduro as his former deputy, Delcy Rodriguez, was sworn in as interim president. The power shift followed a weekend of rapid developments, including U.S. President Donald Trump declaring that the United States was “in charge” in Venezuela and intends to take control of the country’s vast but dilapidated oil sector.
Trump, 79, dismissed calls for rapid elections. “We have to fix the country first. You can’t have an election. There’s no way the people could even vote,” he told NBC News in an interview aired yesterday.
U.S. officials have not disclosed full details of the operation, but U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said nearly 200 personnel entered Caracas in a surprise raid. He said some U.S. service members were injured, and no deaths were reported. Cuba said 32 Cubans were killed in the attack, as more information about the operation continued to emerge.
Maduro’s fall caps a decade-long rule that began in 2013 when he succeeded his mentor, Hugo Chavez. The United States and the European Union have accused Maduro of staying in power through rigged elections — most recently in 2024 — jailing political opponents and presiding over deepening corruption. After roughly a quarter century of leftist governance, the crisis leaves Venezuela’s approximately 30 million people facing fresh uncertainty.
Trump said he wants to work with Rodriguez and other members of Maduro’s former team, provided they accept U.S. terms on oil. After initially resisting, Rodriguez said she is ready for “cooperation.” Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, but years of sanctions, mismanagement and crumbling infrastructure have left production costly and unreliable.
Financial markets took note. Shares of Chevron, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips surged, lifting the Dow Jones industrial average and London’s FTSE 100 to all-time closing highs yesterday.
Some former officials and analysts warned of escalating risks. Brian Naranjo, a former U.S. diplomat in Venezuela before he was expelled by Maduro in 2018, said he has “not been so worried about the future of Venezuela, ever.” He told AFP there is a “very real possibility that things are going to get much, much worse in Venezuela before they get better.”
Trump, who has shocked many Americans with moves to expand his executive power domestically, appeared newly emboldened abroad. On Sunday, he said Cuba was “ready to fall” and repeated that Greenland — part of U.S. ally Denmark — should be under U.S. control. Brian Finucane of the International Crisis Group told AFP that Trump “seems to be disregarding international law altogether” in Venezuela and said U.S. domestic law also appeared to have been violated.
As the legal process moves ahead in New York, the political transition in Caracas remains fluid. The court’s decision to keep Maduro and Flores in detention sets up a mid-March hearing that could clarify the scope of the U.S. case, even as Washington signals deeper involvement in Venezuela’s oil industry and regional security.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
