The federal case against Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, continues in New York. The second view since the Venezuelan leader was captured on January 3 by the United States army and transferred to the country, it has been held this Thursday in lower Manhattan and has been focused on the blockade that he Donald Trump government has imposed the defense of Maduro and Flores to be paid for by Venezuela. The judge presiding over the process, the ninety-year-old Alvin Hellersteinha questioned the government’s justification for that blockade, although also has rejected the defense’s request to dismiss the case.
The session has started with 40 minutes late about the scheduled time in a 26th floor room of the federal court Daniel Patrick Moynihan, in which EL PERIÓDICO has been present. First Cilia Flores and then Maduro entered there, both wearing beige prison clothing, she with a light long-sleeved T-shirt underneath, he with an orange one. The former president of Caracas has appeared something slimmer and fit.
Barry Pollack, Maduro’s main defense lawyer, has said that blocking access to Venezuelan funds is violating constitutional rights of his client’s right to an adequate defense and his choice, the same argument that Flores’ lawyer has echoed. Pollack has also argued that it makes no sense to put a public defender that taxpayers should pay for Americans in a expensive case, which will involve numerous trips to investigate and prepare the defense, when Venezuela is willing to assume those costs.
against him Prosecutor’s representative, Kyle Wirshba, has tried to justify that the decision to block the payment by Venezuela is linked to sanctions imposed by Washington and has stated that it is “national security and foreign policy” issues“.
The changes in Venezuela
Judge Hellerstein has shown himself skeptical. At one point in his conversation with the prosecutor Hellerstein asked directly: “Have things changed in Venezuela?” And he has gone so far as to say that with what has happened since the US military intervention, the arrest, transfer to the US and prosecution of Maduro and Flores, sitting in jail or like this Thursday in court, now “they do not represent a threat to national security.”
“Maduro and Flores are here,” the judge said. “It would seem that the government has the right to impose sanctions to serve extraordinary purposes. I don’t see it complying with them in that case.”
Hellerstein has also stated that “The Venezuelan government is no longer involved in atrocitieswe corrected that”, and added: “That It’s in the past.” Also at another time he pointed out: “We are doing business with them,” a reference to the agreements on oil that the US government maintains with Delcy Rodríguez and the new Venezuelan leadership.
Despite his skepticism regarding the prosecution’s arguments, the judge the announcement of a decision has been reservedand has called for the announcement of the date of the next hearing to be made known.
protests in the street
At the doors of the court since eight in the morning there was a protest in favor of Maduro demanding his release in which three dozen people participated. Among them was Tom Burkea trade unionist and pacifist who had traveled from Michigan to be in New York.
“I don’t expect there to be justice in an American court, the prosecution has already tried to take away his right to defense,” Burke said before the hearing where it was already anticipated that the question of How can Maduro afford his lawyers?.
“With the kidnapping of Maduro and Cilia Flores and with the boat bombings in the sea where it has been killing civilians Trump has shown that he doesn’t care about international law“said Burke. Meanwhile, other protesters shouted classic slogans like “they will not pass” and united causes. “From Venezuela to Iran“From Palestine to the Philippines, stop the American war machine.” The denunciations of economic interests such as access to Venezuelan oil and minerals were another constant.
Asked about Venezuelans who, even without approving the military intervention to capture Maduro, want the end of his regime, Burke defended that Democratic changes must be achieved through democratic means.
Maduro supporters protest in front of the New York courthouse. / CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP
“The left playing its game”
By 10 in the morning a “civic meeting” had been called in front of the court to demand the release of political prisoners that remain in Venezuela and that was also organized to defend “a country where expressing an opinion is not a crime.”
Some Venezuelans opposed to the Maduro regime had already arrived before, such as Andrew Perez41 years old, who arrived five years ago, lives in New York and was collaborating with a compatriot’s radio station.
“I have come because I demand justice for all young people who have been murdered in the dictatorship, by all our political prisoners and by all the injustices that have happened in Venezuela, not only by the corruption or the drug trafficking“, he said.
Pérez says that from time to time he also passes by the outside of the Metropolitan Detention Center, the prison in Brooklyn where Maduro and Flores have been imprisoned since they were transferred to New York in January following the US military operation that captured them on January 3. There, as in southern Manhattan, he has seen people protesting in favor of Maduro, in the middle of a snowfall and with 20 degrees below zero. He is convinced that “everyone is paid” but he also says: “It is the left playing his game.”
People camp outside the court where the ousted president of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, appear this Wednesday. / ANGEL COLMENARES / EFE
Pérez’s “dream” is for them to be held in Venezuela “free elections and be able to vote for Maria Corina (Machado)”. And although he is not satisfied with the fact that he continues to lead the country for the moment Delcy Rodriguez and says that Trump’s plan “has been left half-finished,” he is sympathetic to the Republican leader at least when it comes to foreign policy. “We have to think that it is an elaborate plan. They managed to capture the oil from Venezuela and then they went to Iran and then it will remain Cuba“says this Venezuelan, who also recognizes that on national grounds the Trump’s crusade against immigration has “all the Latinos,” including him, “affected, afflicted and stressed”.
Trump’s “jokes”
While the court hearing was taking place in New York, Trump joked about Venezuela to the press during a meeting of his cabinet. “After my mandate Maybe I’ll go to Venezuela and run for president against Delcy.“, he commented.
Immediately afterwards, the Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum, who recently visited Caracas, assured that Trump is respected and admired so much in Venezuela that they see him, he said, “as Simón Bolívar.
At the cabinet meeting, Trump said that Maduro is only being prosecuted for “a fraction” of the crimes he committed and that there will be more trials, without giving further details.
The president also assured that The US obtained 100 million barrels of Venezuelan oil in the first two weeks after Maduro’s capture and that both his country and Venezuela “have made a lot of money.”
This Thursday, a Venezuelan delegation is scheduled to arrive in Washington to prepare for the reopening of the South American country’s embassy in the United States after both nations reestablished their diplomatic relations, which had been broken since 2019.
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