Ousted Venezuelan president Maduro pleads not guilty as UN says law ignored
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The news: Ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro appeared before a federal judge in Lower Manhattan on Monday to plead not guilty to US charges including narco-terrorism, two days after US forces seized him in a military raid on Caracas.
Wearing prison garb, Maduro told the court he was the president of Venezuela and said he had been “kidnapped”. His wife, Cilia Flores, also pleaded not guilty.
Maduro is being represented by Barry Pollack, known for defending Julian Assange, alongside court-appointed New York defence lawyer David Wikstrom.
The judge set another hearing for 17 March.
US prosecutors are accusing Maduro of overseeing a cocaine trafficking network involving armed groups and cartels, allegations he has long denied. His son, Nicolás Maduro Guerra, who is also named in the indictment, condemned the capture in a speech to the Venezuelan National Assembly.
The context: Meanwhile, the United Nations convened an emergency Security Council meeting to address the US raid.
Speaking on behalf of Secretary-General António Guterres, UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo said she was “deeply concerned that rules of international law have not been respected”, and warned the operation could fuel instability in the region and set a concerning precedent.
The US defended the raid as lawful, describing it as a law enforcement operation carried out under the right to self-defence in Article 51 of the UN Charter.
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said there was “no war against Venezuela or its people” and rejected claims that the US was occupying the country. President Donald Trump, however, had said the US was “in charge” of Venezuela, directly contradicting earlier comments by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had indicated that Washington planned to pressure the new leadership into cooperation rather than assert control.
Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, initially denounced the seizure but later invited Washington to work on a “cooperative agenda”.
What they said: “I am innocent,” Maduro said through an interpreter. “I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country.”
The sources: The New York Times, Reuters
