A defiant Nicolas Maduro Monday pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges telling a New York Federal Court that ‘I am still president’.
Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, who were seized from their Caracas compound last Saturday and flown to the US as part of a special forces operation that has drawn both praise and condemnation from around the world.
The United Nations Security Council is meeting in an emergency session and when he appeared in court, Maduro told the 92-year-old judge in Spanish ‘I was captured at my home in Caracas, Venezuela’
Maduro, wearing a blue jail uniform, and his wife were led into court for a brief, but required, legal proceeding that will likely kick off a prolonged legal fight over whether he can be put on trial in the U.S. Both put on headsets to hear the English-language proceeding as it is translated into Spanish.
The couple were transported under armed guard early Monday from the Brooklyn jail where they’ve been detained to a Manhattan courthouse.
The matter has been adjourned to March 17.
(Details in Full News section)