‘I am still president of my country’: Venezuela’s Maduro pleads not guilty to US narcotics charges

NEW YORK - Shackled at the ankles and dressed in prison garb, toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stood before a US judge on Jan 5 and declared he was still his country’s rightful leader as he faced charges that could put him behind bars for life.

“I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country,” Maduro said through an interpreter, his voice rising before Judge Alvin Hellerstein cut him off.

The 63-year-old,

captured days earlier in a dramatic US military raid

, wore orange slippers, beige pants and layered black and orange shirts. He scribbled notes on a legal pad while lawyers discussed what promises to be a bruising legal fight.

He faces four US federal criminal counts that include narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy and possession of machine guns and destructive devices. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

His lawyer Barry Pollack told Hellerstein that he expects extensive litigation over the legality of Maduro’s “military abduction.”

Maduro’s wife Cilia Flores also pleaded not guilty. She faces the same charges except for narco-terrorism. The next court date was set for March 17.

The US has deemed Maduro an illegitimate dictator since he declared victory in a 2018 election marred by allegations of massive irregularities. His capture marks Washington’s most controversial intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama 37 years ago.

Two groups of protesters – supporters of Maduro and those backing his ouster – argued outside the courthouse on Jan 5.

“We are outraged at what the US has done to the head, the duly-elected head of Venezuela,” said Ms Sherry Finkelman, 80, a retired teacher.

Mr Alejandro Rojas, a 51-year-old data scientist who moved to the US from Venezuela in 2017, said he hoped to return soon with Maduro gone.

“It’s so emotional, just being able to reconnect with family, being able to have a country back again,” Rojas said.

Maduro was first indicted in 2020 as part of a long-running narcotics trafficking case against Venezuelan officials and Colombian guerrillas. He was being held at a Brooklyn jail with a troubled history.

In a new indictment unsealed on Jan 3, prosecutors allege that Maduro is the kingpin of a cartel of Venezuelan officials that has partnered with some of the world’s most violent and prolific drug trafficking groups, including Mexico’s Sinaloa and Zetas cartels, the Colombian paramilitary group FARC and the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

“As Venezuela’s President and now de-facto ruler, Maduro allows cocaine-fueled corruption to flourish for his own benefit, for the benefit of members of his ruling regime, and for the benefit of his family members,” according to the indictment filed by prosecutors from the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.

Prosecutors allege that as president, Maduro directed cocaine trafficking routes, used the military to protect shipments, sheltered violent trafficking groups and used presidential facilities to move drugs.

Legal experts said prosecutors will need to show evidence of Maduro’s direct involvement in drug trafficking to secure a conviction, which could prove difficult if he insulated himself from decision-making.

Trump asserts oil aspirations

In Caracas, senior officials from Maduro’s 13-year-old government remain in charge of the South American oil producer of 30 million people, first spitting defiance then pivoting to possible cooperation with the Trump administration.

US oil companies’

shares jumped on Jan 5

, fuelled by the prospect of access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

Mr Trump has made no secret of wanting to share in Venezuela’s oil riches.

American oil companies will return to Venezuela and rebuild the sector’s infrastructure, Mr Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Jan 4.

“We’re taking back what they stole,” Mr Trump said. “We’re in charge.”

Venezuela has the world’s largest reserves - about 303 billion barrels - but the sector has long been in decline from mismanagement, under-investment and US sanctions, averaging 1.1 million bpd output last year, a third of its 1970s heyday.

Acting president urges cooperation

After first denouncing Maduro’s capture as a colonial oil-grab and “kidnapping,” Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez,

softened her stance on Jan 4

, saying it was a priority to have respectful relations with Washington.

“We invite the US government to work together on an agenda of cooperation,” Ms Rodriguez said. “President Donald Trump, our peoples and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war.”

Mr Trump has threatened another strike if Venezuela does not cooperate with opening its oil industry and stopping drugs. Mr Trump also threatened Colombia and Mexico on Jan 5 and said Cuba’s communist government “looks like it’s ready to fall”.

Just how the US would work with a post-Maduro government, full of sworn ideological enemies, is unclear. Mr Trump appears to have sidelined for now the Venezuelan opposition, where many anti-Maduro activists had assumed this would be their moment.

Ms Rodriguez, daughter of a leftist guerrilla who has been praised as a “tigress” by Maduro, is also known as a pragmatist with good connections in the private sector and a belief in economic orthodoxy.

Global consternation

Washington’s allies, most of whom did not recognise Maduro as president due to vote-rigging allegations, have been more muted, stressing the need for dialogue and adherence to law.

Mr Trump’s raid has created a political storm in the US, with opposition Democrats saying they were misled. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was due to brief top lawmakers later on Jan 5.

While a handful of conservative figures have criticised the Venezuela operation as a betrayal of Mr Trump’s “America First” pledge to avoid foreign entanglements, most supporters have largely praised it as a swift, painless win.

Inside Venezuela, Maduro opponents have kept celebrations on hold as his allies remain in power and there is no sign of the military turning against them, even though many suspect some insiders helped in Jan 3’s operation. REUTERS