“I am innocent. I am innocent. I am an honorable man. I am still the president of my country,” said Maduro, 63, through an interpreter, before he was sentenced by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan federal court.
Maduro’s wife Cilia Flores also pleaded not guilty. The next court date is set for March 17.
As dozens of pro- and anti-Maduro protesters gathered outside the courthouse, Maduro stood with his ankles shackled and wearing orange and beige prison clothes. He declared that he was ‘captured’ and continued to be the president of Venezuela. He listened to an interpreter through headphones as Hellerstein summarized the charges.
Maduro is accused of overseeing a cocaine-trafficking network with international drug cartels and faces four criminal charges – narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine and possession of machine guns and destructive materials.
Maduro has long denied the allegations, saying they are a mask for imperialist designs on Venezuela’s rich oil reserves.
Maduro’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, said he expected more serious and complex charges for what he called the “military kidnapping” of his client.
Sworn by the Fan
Hours later in Caracas, Maduro’s Vice President, Delcy Rodriguez, was sworn in as Venezuela’s interim president with words of support for Maduro but no signs that he would fight the US move.
A recent US intelligence study determined that Rodriguez would be in the best position to lead an interim government in Maduro’s absence, finding that opposition figures such as Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado or former president Edmundo Gonzalez would struggle to gain legitimacy. The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the classified report.
Asked by Reuters about this report, White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said, “The President and his national security team are making sound decisions to ultimately ensure that Venezuela is in line with the interests of the United States.”
While many anti-Maduro activists thought this would be their turn, Trump appeared to have sidelined Venezuela’s opposition for now. Instead, he suggested that Rodriguez was willing to work with Washington.
Leavitt told Fox News that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is “in constant correspondence” with the remaining Maduro government, and that Washington has maintained a “high standard” over Caracas.
The Wall Street Journal added that an intelligence assessment concluded that Rodriguez is among the few Venezuelan leaders able to maintain order, along with the interior and defense ministers, in a government dominated by anti-US people.
Trump told NBC News that the US was not at war with Venezuela but rather, “we are at war with drug dealers”.
Trump said the 30-day timeline for a new vote was unrealistic, and that the US would need to help deal with the country’s problems before then. “We have to fix the country first. You’re not going to have an election. There’s no way people are going to vote,” Trump said.
It’s a legal question
The United States has viewed Maduro as an illegitimate dictator since he announced his victory in the 2018 elections marred by allegations of massive malpractice.
At the same time, international legal experts have questioned the legality of the raid, with some criticizing Trump’s action as a violation of international law.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously served as Trump’s criminal defense attorney while in private practice, told NBC News that the Trump administration “has done everything legal”, and that the United States “has a legal right to arrest people who are accused of heinous crimes”.
Trump also told NBC News that the US could fund the rebuilding of the country’s oil infrastructure by American companies, a project he said could be completed in less than 18 months.
CBS News, citing two unnamed sources, said representatives of oil majors Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron Corp will meet with Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Thursday.
