WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) – Venezuelan head of state Nicolás Maduro, who was captured by the USA, is scheduled to appear in court for the first time on Monday, according to media reports. A New York federal court hearing is scheduled for noon (local time), NBC News and the New York Times reported, among others. What exactly would happen at the court date initially remained unclear.
The authoritarian 63-year-old Maduro and his wife were arrested by US special forces in the Venezuelan capital Caracas on Saturday night and taken out of the country.
The US has indicted Maduro on charges of “drug terrorism,” among other things. He is said to have used his authority, which the US viewed as illegal, to transport thousands of tons of cocaine to the US. Maduro himself benefited from this. He is said to have allied himself with drug traffickers, as can be seen from the allegations that US Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on the X platform.
Maduro had already been charged in the USA in 2020 with drug trafficking, among other things. The United States had put a kind of bounty on Maduro’s head. Now there is basically an updated indictment.
His wife and son are co-defendants. In addition, the allegations are directed against the current and former Interior Minister and, according to the USA, the leader or co-leader of the criminal organization “Tren de Aragua”./rin/DP/zb