Nicolás Maduro, the ousted Venezuelan president, and his wife pleaded not guilty on Monday to federal charges including drug trafficking and other crimes, two days after they were captured in a US military raid in Caracas, The New York Times reported.
Maduro, his hair streaked with gray, identified himself to the judge as the president of Venezuela and said he had been “kidnapped.”
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, appeared before Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein in short-sleeve navy shirts over orange jail uniforms during the hearing in Lower Manhattan. They face charges including narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine, according to an indictment unsealed hours after their capture, which capped a monthslong campaign by the Trump administration to drive him from power.
“I’m innocent. I’m not guilty. I am a decent man,” Maduro said through an interpreter after he was asked for his plea. It could be well over a year before a jury is seated to weigh the evidence against him and Flores.
Earlier, during a meeting of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Maduro’s son, Nicolás Maduro Guerra, who is also named in the indictment, delivered a defiant speech. He said that his father and “second mother” were “kidnapped” by the United States, adding that the world was facing a “dangerous regression” to imperialism. The younger Maduro, who has been a member of the assembly since 2021, called on the “people of the world” to show solidarity with his family and with Venezuela.
After pleading not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges, Maduro and his wife Flores, agreed to remain detained, though their lawyers told the judge they may ask for bail at a later date.
Their next hearing was set for March 17.
As he was leaving the courtroom, Maduro said in Spanish, “I am a prisoner of war.”
Even as Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, a member of Maduro’s inner circle, offered on Sunday night to work with the United States “on a cooperative agenda,” President Trump reiterated his assertion of direct control over Venezuela, saying that his government was “in charge” of the country. That contradicted comments hours earlier by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who suggested that the administration would instead coerce cooperation from the new leadership in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.
Trump also suggested that the United States could take action against more countries, including Colombia, Mexico and the semiautonomous Danish territory of Greenland. Asked whether that could mean a U.S. operation against Colombia, he said, “It sounds good to me.”
The remarks drew a mix of responses. The president of Colombia warned that any attempt to detain him would unleash popular fury, and the prime minister of Denmark, a NATO ally, urged Trump to “stop the threats.” But Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum brushed aside the remarks. “This is just President Trump’s manner of speaking,” she said.
