Maduro pleads not guilty before the federal court in New York: ‘I am still the president of Venezuela’

Nicolás Maduro, the deposed president of Venezuela, captured last Saturday in Caracas by U.S. forces and transferred to New York in a lightning military operation, along with his wife, Cilia Flores, has pleaded not guilty to the four drug-related terrorism charges against him in the United States. “I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country,” Maduro declared through an interpreter, before being interrupted by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, as reported by Reuters. Flores also pleaded not guilty.

The couple appeared in federal court in the Southern District of New York on Monday, facing four charges. The prosecution has accused them of narco-terrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine, and possession of machine guns and destructive devices. The indictment also extends to his wife, Flores, his son, Nicolás Ernesto Maduro, known as “Nicolasito,” his Minister of the Interior and Justice, Diosdado Cabello, and other high-ranking officials in his government.

Maduro and Flores pleaded not guilty to all charges. The next court hearing is scheduled for March 17. The Chavista leader rejected the accusations during his statement, delivered in Spanish with an interpreter. He alleged that the charges are a strategy to conceal “imperialist plans” regarding his country’s oil reserves, the largest in the world.

Maduro and his wife arrived at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse, which houses the Southern District Court, at around 8:00 a.m., heavily escorted by a convoy of DEA vehicles. The detainees were handcuffed and dressed in prison garb, wearing brown shirts and trousers.

The indictment released by Attorney General Pam Bondi last Saturday identifies Maduro as the leader of a criminal network that has illegally enriched itself during his years in various positions within the Venezuelan government, culminating in his presidency. The 25-page document alleges that Maduro and his wife planned to flood the United States with drugs. It links them to Colombia’s FARC guerrillas and several cartels, including Tren de Aragua, the Cartel of the Suns, and the Sinaloa Cartel, among others.

The case has been assigned to Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, a 92-year-old Orthodox Jew with nearly three decades of experience. He was appointed to the position by Bill Clinton in 1998. Throughout his career, Hellerstein has handled high-profile cases such as the claims of companies and workers following the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers, the sexual harassment case involving film producer Harvey Weinstein, and the case against Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen. He is also handling the case of Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal, a former Venezuelan congressman and former head of intelligence for the Chavista regime, who recently pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and conspiring to import large quantities of cocaine into the United States, in a trial that bears some similarities to Maduro’s. It is hoped that Carvajal’s testimony, given in cooperation with the authorities, will influence the trial against Maduro and his wife.

The prosecution has assigned the case to Jay Clayton, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. A tenacious prosecutor, he previously served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. stock market regulator.

“For over 25 years, leaders of Venezuela have abused their positions of public trust and corrupted once-legitimate institutions to import tons of cocaine into the United States,” the indictment, signed by Clayton, states.

“Nicolás Maduro Moros, the defendant, is at the forefront of that corruption and has partnered with his co-conspirators to use his illegally obtained authority and the institutions he corroded to transport thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States. Since his early days in Venezuelan government, Maduro Moros has tarnished every public office he has held,” it continues.

Maduro has been pursued by the U.S. since 2020, during Trump’s first term. At that time, Attorney General William Barr filed criminal charges. During the indictment announcement, he stated: “For more than 20 years, Maduro and a number of high-ranking colleagues allegedly conspired with the FARC, causing tons of cocaine to enter and devastate American communities.”

Pitched battle outside the courthouse

While the defendants were giving their statements, a pitched battle was raging outside. The morning was freezing, and on Mulberry Street, directly across from the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse, which houses the Southern District Court, officers from the New York Police Department (NYPD) stood guard to prevent a clash between the two sides: on one side were the group holding signs demanding the immediate release of the Chavista leader; on the other, Venezuelans outraged that anyone would defend the man who had left them without a country.

Both groups shouted insults at each other while waiting for Judge Hellerstein to take testimony from the presidential couple, who have captured all the international media attention. William Antonio Contreras Ceballos, a Venezuelan construction worker who has lived in New York for 22 years, yelled at the group across from him, telling them that if they support Nicolas Maduro so vehemently, they should go live in Cuba. He has never visited the island, but the stories he hears from his friends are horrifying. “In Cuba, you can raise a cow and you can’t eat it, you can produce milk and you can’t drink it,” he said.

He added violent instincts were surfacing within him, and he held back behind the barricades erected by the NYPD police to control the confrontation. “I feel resentment, anger, hatred toward those people. It’s sad to see your mother stand in line for one or two days and get a pittance, or wait four days to get gas in an oil-producing country.”

On the other side was Ebtesham Ahmed, wearing a green beret and holding a sign that read: “Free President Maduro.” He is 21 years old, visited Caracas last December, and is a member of the Socialist Organization Camino de la Libertad (Path to Freedom). He said that although he doesn’t know if those here are people who fled repression or the economic crisis, he can’t help but feel “pity” for their celebration of Maduro’s capture. “The United States has no right to infringe upon our sovereignty as a nation. I just hope that one day they will understand that the United States doesn’t care about the people of Venezuela, that it only wants its oil, that it only wants its natural resources. And we have seen this story repeat itself time and time again.”

For now, what worries Elisbeli Carabalí, a 30-year-old Venezuelan who frequently shed tears in front of the New York courthouse, is being able to return with her four children from her Bronx apartment to her home in Maracaibo, where her mother and brother live. “I want to go back to a free Venezuela, where I can feed my children well, where there is good education, where you can arrive and find a job, like in this country,” she explained. Carabalí got up very early and, despite the low temperatures, took the train and said she won’t leave until she knows what happened inside the courthouse. “It’s something that fills us all with emotion; the president who has ruined Venezuela is now in U.S. custody.”

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition