Ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, made their initial appearance in Manhattan federal court on Monday following their capture by U.S. forces in a military operation in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, with Maduro claiming, “I am innocent.”
The couple — who are being held in federal custody at MDC-Brooklyn — appeared in front of Judge Alvin Hellerstein. Maduro was escorted into the courtroom in shackles and orange jail slippers and is sitting two seats away from his wife.
Maduro and Flores wore headphones to hear the court-provided interpreter.
When Maduro took his seat next to defense attorney Barry Pollack, he immediately began writing on a notepad. Flores sat next to her attorney, Mark Donnelly.
Maduro stood before the judge.
“Are you, sir, Nicolas Maduro Moros?” Hellerstein asked.
Maduro declared, through an interpreter, “I am the president of Venezuela.” He added, “I was captured at my home in Caracas, Venezuela,” before the judge interrupted and told him there would be time later to challenge his custody.
Maduro then affirmed he is who the judge said he is.Hellerstein read Maduro the standard rights.
Maduro said, through an interpreter, “I did not know of these rights. Your Honor is informing me of them now.”
“How do you plead to the indictment?” Hellerstein asked.
Maduro responded, “I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country.”
“I am innocent. I am not guilty of anything mentioned here,” Maduro responded, through an interpreter, when asked to repeat his plea the charges.
Hellerstein then turned to Maduro’s wife.
“I am Cilia Flores,” she said. “I am first lady of the Republic of Venezuela.”
Hellerstein interjected, saying, “The purpose today is just to ask you who you are.” The judge then explained her rights to remain silent and to be represented by an attorney.
“Yes I understand and I’ve heard it,” Flores said.Asked how she pleaded to the three counts of the indictment she faces. Flores responded, “Not guilty — completely innocent.”
Maduro and Flores are among six defendants named in a four-count superseding indictment that accused them of conspiring with violent, dangerous drug traffickers for the last 25 years. Maduro has long denied all the allegations.
Dueling groups of protesters have gathered across the street from the courthouse; one is holding signs urging President Donald Trump to “Free President Maduro,” and the other is supportive of his capture.
More people protesting against what they call “illegal kidnapping” are expected to arrive shortly before the court appearance.Maduro’s son, two high-ranking Venezuelan officials and an alleged leader of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang are the other defendants.
Trump said on Saturday that the U.S. “successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela” in which Maduro and Flores were “captured and flown out of the Country.”
Trump said the operation was carried out in conjunction with U.S. law enforcement. Members of Congress said the military, which sources said included the elite Delta Force, was in place to support that law enforcement operation.
In a move that alarmed some observers, Trump, who campaigned on “America First” and against foreign entanglements, said during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago the U.S. would “run” Venezuela for an unspecified “period of time.”
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