Maduro says ‘I was captured’ as he pleads not guilty to drug-trafficking charges

Michael R Sisak and Larry Neumeister, Associated Press

Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro declared himself “innocent” and a “decent man” as he pleaded not guilty to federal drug-trafficking charges in a US courtroom.

“I’m innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the president of my country,” Maduro told a judge.

Maduro was making his first appearance in an American courtroom on the narco-terrorism charges the Trump administration used to justify capturing him and bringing him to New York.

Maduro, wearing a blue jail uniform, and his wife were led into court around noon 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 US.

Both put on headsets to hear the English-language proceeding as it is translated into Spanish.

The couple were transported under armed guard early on Monday from the Brooklyn jail where they have been detained to a Manhattan courthouse.

The trip was swift. A motorcade carrying Maduro left jail at around 7.15am and made its way to a nearby athletic field, where Maduro slowly made his way to a waiting helicopter.

The chopper flew across New York harbour and landed at a Manhattan heliport, where Maduro, limping, was loaded into an armoured vehicle.

A few minutes later, the law enforcement caravan was inside a garage at the courthouse complex, just around the corner from the one where Donald Trump was convicted in 2024 of falsifying business records.

Protesters

Across the street from the courthouse, the police separated a small but growing group of protesters from about a dozen pro-intervention demonstrators, including one man who pulled a Venezuelan flag away from those protesting over the US action.

As a criminal defendant in the US legal system, Maduro will have the same rights as any other person accused of a crime — including the right to a trial by a jury of regular New Yorkers.

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.