Former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro will be tried this Monday (5) in a federal court in Manhattan to answer charges of narco-terrorism and international drug trafficking, just days after being captured by United States special forces in Caracas.
The hearing takes place amid questions about the legality of the operation, which is now being analyzed by the United Nations (UN), and a still uncertain political rearrangement within Venezuela.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been in prison since Saturday (3), following a US military operation described as the largest direct US intervention in Latin America since .
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According to information released by the international press, special forces arrived in the Venezuelan capital in helicopters and broke the former president’s security system, detaining him at the entrance to a safe room.
The couple must appear at 12 pm (local time) before Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York. There is no official confirmation about the constitution of defense. The expectation, according to American vehicles, is that both will plead innocent, which tends to lead to the maintenance of preventive detention until the trial, which could take more than a year to occur.
The accusations
Maduro is accused of heading, for decades, a group, such as the Mexican Sinaloa and Zetas cartels, the Colombian FARC guerrilla and the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua faction.
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Charges include narcoterrorism, conspiracy to import drugs, possession of machine guns and destructive devices. Penalties, if convicted, can range from decades in prison to life imprisonment.
According to the complaint, Maduro’s involvement with drug trafficking began in 2000, when he was elected deputy, throughout his period as Minister of Foreign Affairs and intensified after assuming the Presidency in 2013.
Prosecutors say he used state structures, the Armed Forces and official installations to protect drug shipments, as well as ordering kidnappings and murders to preserve operations.
Questions
The capture reignited the international debate on sovereignty and the use of force. The UN Security Council is due to meet this Monday to discuss the legality and implications of the US action. Russia, China and Venezuela’s left-wing allies condemned the operation, calling it a violation of international law.
Cuba, the main ally of the Chavista regime, stated that .
Washington’s traditional allies, many of whom no longer recognized Maduro as president since the 2018 elections, adopted a more cautious stance, avoiding openly condemning the US and advocating dialogue and respect for international norms. Some even welcomed Maduro’s departure from power.
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Despite the former president’s arrest, his allies continue to control the structures of the Venezuelan state. Initially with a confrontational speech, the ae declared that it was a priority to maintain a “respectful” relationship with Washington.
In a statement, she stated that Venezuela is willing to cooperate on a development agenda within international law, advocating dialogue rather than confrontation.
Rodríguez, a central figure of Chavismo and known for tough rhetoric, also has a reputation for economic pragmatism and transit in the private sector. His change of stance comes after statements by President Donald Trump, who called for the opening of the oil sector and the fight against drug trafficking.
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Exploration
Trump did not hide his strategic interest in Venezuelan oil reserves, estimated at around 303 billion barrels, the largest in the world. The sector, however, faces decades of decline, affected by mismanagement, underinvestment and international sanctions.
Average production last year was about 1.1 million barrels per day, roughly a third of the peak recorded in the 1970s.
The American president also justified the operation as a response to the Venezuelan migratory flow, around one in five citizens who have left the country in recent years, and the nationalization of US oil assets in the past.
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Trump said that American companies will return to Venezuela to rebuild the energy industry and declared that “the United States is in charge.”
Maduro, in turn, has always denied the accusations and maintains that they are part of an imperialist project to control the country’s wealth.
