NEW YORK: A defiant Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges in a New York court on Monday, two days after being snatched by US forces in a stunning raid on his home in Caracas.
Maduro, 63, told a federal judge in Manhattan “I’m innocent. I’m not guilty.”
Smiling as he entered the courtroom and wearing an orange shirt with beige trousers, Maduro spoke softly.
“I’m president of the Republic of Venezuela and I’m here kidnapped since January 3, Saturday,” Maduro told the court, speaking in Spanish through an interpreter. “I was captured at my home in Caracas, Venezuela.”
But the man who ruled his oil-rich country with an iron fist for more than 12 years got a sharp reminder of his fall when the judge told him to stick to simply stating his name.
Maduro’s wife Cilia Flores likewise pleaded not guilty. The judge ordered both to remain behind bars and set a new hearing date of March 17.
The pair were snatched by US commandos in the early hours of Saturday in an assault on the Venezuelan capital backed by warplanes and a heavy naval deployment.
In a series of shock announcements over the weekend, President Donald Trump declared that the US would now “run” Venezuela with an eye to rebuilding and controlling its huge but decrepit oil industry.
Amid international alarm, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told an emergency UN Security Council meeting that there should be “respect for the principles of sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity.”
There was sharp criticism Monday from Mexico, where President Claudia Sheinbaum said the Americas “do not belong” to anyone, while Colombian President Gustavo Petro said he was ready to “take up arms” against Trump.
- Delcy Rodriguez new leader
With Maduro gone, his former vice president Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in Monday as president, the head of the parliament said.
Trump has said he wants to work with Rodriguez and the rest of Maduro’s former team — provided that they submit to US demands on access to oil. And after an initially defiant posture, Rodriguez said she is ready for “cooperation.”
Maduro became president in 2013, taking over from his equally hard-line socialist predecessor Hugo Chavez.
The United States and European Union say he stayed in power by rigging elections and imprisoning opponents, while overseeing rampant corruption.
The crisis after a quarter century of leftist rule now leaves Venezuela’s approximately 30 million people facing uncertainty.
Maduro’s son, lawmaker Nicolas Maduro Guerra, insisted his father would return “sooner or later.” And the newly re-elected head of Venezuela’s parliament vowed to explore “all avenues” to get the deposed leader back.
But so far the Trump administration is indicating it wants to work with, not against, the post-Maduro regime.
Trump has also made clear there is no appetite for helping opposition candidates previously seen as the rightful winners of rigged elections to take power.
- ‘Need access to oil’ -
When asked what he needs from interim leader Rodriguez, Trump said: “We need total access. We need access to the oil and other things in their country that allow us to rebuild their country.”
Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves. However the oil is difficult and expensive to produce and after years of international sanctions and mismanagement, the infrastructure is in poor shape.
Shares in US oil majors Chevron, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips shares surged on Wall Street early Monday.
Trump, who has shocked many Americans with his unprecedented moves to accumulate domestic power, also now appears increasingly emboldened in foreign policy.
On Sunday, he said communist Cuba was “ready to fall” and he repeated that Greenland, which is part of US ally Denmark, should be controlled by the United States.
Although there are no known US troops in Venezuela now, the Trump administration says it retains powerful economic leverage through an oil blockade. Trump has also threatened additional military attacks.
A huge US naval presence, including an aircraft carrier, is deployed in the Caribbean.
Details of the US operation in Caracas were still emerging Monday, with Havana saying 32 Cubans were killed in the attack. No US service members were killed but some were wounded, according to US officials.
