Ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro pleaded not guilty on Monday to U.S. charges including drug trafficking, appearing defiant before a federal court in New York just days after his capture in a dramatic American military operation in Caracas.
Maduro, 63, told a Manhattan judge, through a Spanish interpreter, that he was innocent and described his arrest as an abduction. Smiling as he entered the courtroom in an orange detention shirt and beige trousers, he spoke softly but firmly. “I’m president of the Republic of Venezuela, and I’m here kidnapped since January 3,” he said, claiming U.S. forces seized him at his home in the Venezuelan capital.
His wife, Cilia Flores, also entered a plea of not guilty. The judge ordered both to remain in custody and scheduled the next court hearing for March 17.
The court appearance followed a stunning U.S. operation early Saturday in which American commandos, backed by airstrikes, warplanes, and a heavy naval presence, moved into Caracas and forcibly removed the presidential couple. The raid sent shockwaves across Latin America and drew sharp criticism from international observers.
In Caracas, thousands of Maduro supporters marched through the streets as former vice president Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as interim president. Venezuela’s opposition leader, María Corina Machado, rejected Rodríguez’s legitimacy, calling her “one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, and narcotrafficking.”
Speaking from an undisclosed location in her first public remarks since the operation, Machado said she plans to return to Venezuela “as soon as possible.” She had left the country last month to receive a Nobel Peace Prize.
U.S. President Donald Trump declared after the raid that the United States was now “in charge” in Venezuela and signaled intentions to take control of the country’s vast but deteriorating oil industry. He also dismissed the prospect of immediate elections, arguing that conditions in the country made a credible vote impossible.
“We have to fix the country first,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News. “There’s no way the people could even vote.”
However, divisions emerged within Washington. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Trump ally, said elections in Venezuela “should happen in short order.”
Maduro has ruled Venezuela since 2013, succeeding socialist leader Hugo Chávez. The United States and the European Union accuse him of clinging to power through rigged elections—most recently in 2024—and the imprisonment of political opponents, while presiding over widespread corruption and economic collapse.
The upheaval has left Venezuela’s roughly 30 million people, and the world’s largest proven oil reserves, in deep uncertainty. Trump has indicated a willingness to work with Rodríguez and other figures from Maduro’s former inner circle, provided they comply with U.S. demands regarding oil access. Rodríguez has since said she is open to “cooperation.”
Former U.S. diplomat Brian Naranjo warned that the situation could deteriorate rapidly. “There’s a very real possibility that things are going to get much worse in Venezuela before they get better,” he said, pointing to powerful figures within the regime who could challenge Rodríguez’s authority.
The operation has also intensified debate over U.S. foreign policy. Critics say the raid undermined international law, while Trump has appeared increasingly emboldened, recently suggesting that communist Cuba was “ready to fall” and reiterating claims that the United States should control Greenland.
As details of the Caracas raid continue to emerge, Cuba has claimed that dozens of its citizens were killed in the attack—an assertion U.S. officials dispute, saying American forces reported only injuries and no fatalities among their ranks.
For now, Maduro remains behind bars in the United States, as Venezuela faces a volatile and uncertain future.
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