Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro appeared in federal court on Monday (January 5, 2026) to face U.S. drug trafficking charges after President Donald Trump’s stunning capture of him rattled world leaders and left officials in Caracas scrambling to respond.
Mr. Maduro, 63, told a federal judge in Manhattan that he had been “kidnapped” from Venezuela and said “I’m innocent, I’m not guilty,” U.S. media reported.
“I’m still the President of my country,” he was quoted as saying.
Mr. Maduro’s wife Cilia Flores likewise pleaded not guilty.
The pair were snatched by U.S. commandos in the early hours of Saturday (January 3, 2026) in an assault backed by warplanes and a heavy naval deployment.
U.N. chief Antonio Guterres raised concerns about instability in Venezuela and the legality of Trump’s strike, the most dramatic U.S. intervention in Latin America since the 1989 Panama invasion. Special Forces swooped into Caracas by helicopter on Saturday (January 3, 2026), shattered his security cordon and dragged him from the threshold of a safe room.
Mr. Maduro is accused of overseeing a cocaine-trafficking network that partnered with violent groups including Mexico’s Sinaloa and Zetas cartels, Colombian FARC rebels and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang.
Outside the courthouse, dozens of Maduro supporters outnumbered a handful of anti-Maduro Venezuelan immigrants.
Amid global consternation at Trump’s seizure of a foreign head of state – albeit an unpopular one – the U.N. Security Council debated its legality and fallout as Russia, China and Venezuela’s leftist allies condemned the raid.
While world leaders and American politicians wrestled with the extraordinary action, Venezuela issued an emergency order directing police to hunt down anyone who aided the U.S. attack.
People protest against U.S. strikes against Venezuela and the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, outside the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse ahead of his arraignment to face U.S. federal charges including narco-terrorism, conspiracy, drug trafficking, money laundering and others in New York City, U.S., on January 5, 2026. | Photo Credit: Reuters
Details of the U.S. operation in Caracas were still emerging Monday (January 5, 2026), with Havana saying 32 Cubans were killed in the attack. No U.S. service members were killed but some were wounded, according to U.S. officials.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that nearly 200 personnel went into Caracas on the surprise raid.
