Nicolás Maduro appeared in a Manhattan federal court Thursday as the United States pushes forward with a broad drug-trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracy case against the ousted Venezuelan leader.
Maduro cut a relaxed figure as he returned to court for his second appearance since his capture by US forces in an extraordinary nighttime raid.
Prosecutors claim Maduro, who was seized by the US military on January 3 in a daring operation in Caracas, played a key role in a conspiracy to traffic cocaine into the US.
They also allege that Maduro and others partnered with groups designated by the US as foreign terrorist organisations and that he sought to enrich himself while serving in government for over a quarter century.
During Thursday’s one-hour hearing, the judge indicated he would not dismiss the case over Maduro and his wife's apparent inability to afford their legal bill without aid from the Venezuelan government.
Maduro, 63, and wife Cilia Flores have been held in a Brooklyn jail for almost three months since US commandos snatched the pair from their compound in Caracas in early January.
The stunning operation deposed the strongman who had led Venezuela since 2013 and has since forced the oil-rich country to largely bend to the will of US President Donald Trump.
Maduro has declared himself a "prisoner of war" and pleaded not guilty to the four counts he faces: "narco-terrorism" conspiracy; cocaine importation conspiracy; possession of machine guns and destructive devices; and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
Wearing a grey prison uniform, glasses and a headset for translation, he jotted down notes throughout the hearing and occasionally spoke to his lawyer through an interpreter.
Both Maduro and Flores pleaded not guilty and are being held without bail at a jail in Brooklyn. A trial could be at least a year away, and if convicted, Maduro could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Maduro, who smiled as he entered the room, did not address the court during the proceedings, which focused on arguments over who will pay his and Flores' legal fees.
US sanctions prevent the Venezuelan government from footing the bill, and Maduro and Flores say they do not have sufficient personal funds to cover it themselves.
"I'm not going to dismiss the case," said Judge Alvin Hellerstein, seemingly rebuffing a request by Maduro's lawyer, though he did not issue a formal decision.
Hellerstein also did not immediately set the next court date.
Protest in Caracas
Before the hearing, Trump said that "other cases are going to be brought" against Maduro, without giving more details.
Several backers and opponents of Maduro gathered outside the Manhattan courthouse, including some with a large inflatable doll depicting him in an orange prison jumpsuit with handcuffs.
At one point, a scuffle broke out between protesters before police intervened and escorted a man from the area.
Detained in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal prison known for unsanitary conditions, Maduro is reportedly alone in a cell with no access to the Internet or newspapers.
A source close to the Venezuelan government said he reads The Bible and is referred to as "president" by some of his fellow detainees.
He is only allowed to communicate by phone with his family and lawyers for a maximum of 15 minutes per call, the source added.
Maduro and his wife were forcibly taken by US commandos in the early hours of January 3 in airstrikes on the Venezuelan capital backed by warplanes and a heavy naval deployment.
At least 83 people died and more than 112 people were injured in the assault, according to Venezuelan officials. No US service members were killed.
The Trump administration’s seizure of Maduro and his wife marked a new aggressive approach to foreign policy. More recently, the United States went to war with Iran.
Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s number two, criticised the capture but has won praise from Trump for opening up the nation’s oil industry to US investment.
Rodríguez is grappling with leading a country saddled with the world's largest proven oil reserves but an economy in shambles.
She has since enacted a historic amnesty law to free political prisoners jailed under Maduro and reformed oil and mining regulations in line with US demands for access to her country's vast natural wealth.
This month, the US State Department said it was restoring diplomatic ties with Venezuela in a sign of thawing relations.
Trust in US system?
From Caracas, Maduro's son said Thusrday he trusts the US legal system but that the case was tainted by his parents' "kidnapping."
"We trust in the legal system of the United States," Nicolás Maduro Guerra, a lawmaker who is also known as ‘Nicolasito,’ or "Little Nicolas," said in Caracas.
But he added: "This trial has vestiges of illegitimacy from the start, because of the capture, the kidnapping, of an elected president in a military operation."
He said his father had "worldwide immunity" under international law, as he joined hundreds of Maduro supporters in a Caracas square where a giant screen carried live coverage of court proceedings.
"Freedom for Cilia and Nicolás!" chanted the crowd.
– TIMES/AFP/BLOOMBERG
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