Nicolas Maduro shuffles into police SUV in jail garb as Venezuelan president is helicoptered from hellhole NYC jail for first court docket look on drug and gun fees
Nicolas Maduro has been shuffled into a police SUV this morning, sporting prison garb, as he makes his way from an NYC jail to his first court appearance.
The Venezuelan president, 63, is expected to appear in court Monday on drug and weapons charges, just days after being seized in Caracas in a shock US military operation.
Maduro was driven from Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center to a nearby helipad. He was then flown the short distance across the East River to the southern tip of Manhattan.
There, he was seen shuffling awkwardly off the chopper in shackles before being put into a khaki-colored armored vehicle while surrounded by armed police officers.
The captured Venezuelan president was subsequently driven to Manhattan Federal Court, where he will be arraigned at 12pm ET.
There was no sign of Maduro’s wife Cilia Flores, who was also forcibly taken out of Caracas on Saturday and faces narcotrafficking charges.
Maduro’s lawyers are expected to contest the legality of his arrest, arguing that he is immune from prosecution as a sovereign head of state.
President Donald Trump has accused Maduro of leading the Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns), which the president claims flooded the US with cocaine.
Nicolas Maduro has been shuffled into a police SUV this morning, sporting prison garb, as he makes his way from an NYC jail to his first court appearance
Nicolas Maduro is being moved from a prison in Brooklyn ahead of his initial appearance at Daniel Patrick Moynihan courthouse
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrives at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, as he heads towards the Daniel Patrick Manhattan United States Courthouse for an initial appearance
The US seized Maduro and his wife in a military operation Saturday, capturing them in their home on a military base.
A 25-page indictment made public Saturday accuses Maduro and others of working with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the US They could face life in prison if convicted.
It wasn’t clear as of Sunday whether Maduro had hired a US attorney yet.
Maduro and Flores have been under US sanctions for years, making it illegal for any American to take money from them without first securing a license from the Treasury Department.
Maduro, his wife and his son – who remains free – are charged along with Venezuela’s interior and justice minister, a former interior and justice minister and Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, an alleged Tren de Aragua leader who has been criminally charged in another case and remains at large.
Among other things, the indictment accuses Maduro and his wife of ordering kidnappings, beatings and murders of those who owed them drug money or undermined their drug trafficking operation.
That included a local drug boss’ killing in Caracas, the indictment said.
Maduro’s wife is also accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in 2007 to arrange a meeting between ‘a large-scale drug trafficker’ and the director of Venezuela’s National Anti-Drug Office, resulting in additional monthly bribes, with some of the money going to Maduro’s wife, according to the indictment.
President Nicolas Maduro is moved out of the helicopter at the Downtown Manhattan Helipor
DEA agents wait for the arrival of captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, ahead of Maduro’s initial appearance at Daniel Patrick Moynihan courthouse in Manhattan on January 5
Maduro is escorted by DEA agents as he heads towards the courthouse in Manhattan for his initial appearance
Law enforcement officials move captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro at the downtown Manhattan Heliport
While the indictment against Maduro says Venezuelan officials worked directly with the Tren de Aragua gang, a US intelligence assessment published in April, drawing on input from the intelligence community’s 18 agencies, found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government.
Trump said the US would ‘run’ Venezuela temporarily, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that it would not govern the country day-to-day other than enforcing an existing ‘oil quarantine.’
Venezuela’s new interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has demanded that the US return Maduro, who long denied any involvement in drug trafficking – although late Sunday she also struck a more conciliatory tone in a social media post, inviting collaboration with Trump and ‘respectful relations’ with the US.
Before his capture, Maduro and his allies claimed US hostility was motivated by lust for Venezuela’s rich oil and mineral resources.
Trump suggested Sunday that he wants to extend American power further in the western hemisphere.
Speaking aboard Air Force One, he called Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, ‘a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. And he´s not going to be doing it very long.’
He called on Rodriguez to provide ‘total access’ to her country or face consequences.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
