Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro is scheduled to appear in a Manhattan federal court today, Monday, Jan 5, following a stunning weekend military operation that removed him from power.
Maduro faces four counts of narco-terrorism.
U.S. prosecutors accuse him of leading a 25-year conspiracy to flood American streets with cocaine.
The arraignment is set for 12:00 PM before Judge Alvin Hellerstein.
The Midnight Extraction
The capture unfolded early Saturday during a high-stakes U.S. military mission in Caracas.
President Donald Trump announced that U.S. forces “turned off the lights” in the Venezuelan capital before moving in to seize Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Military officials say the operation was rehearsed for months.
While some U.S. troops were injured, no American lives were lost.
Maduro was first taken to a U.S. warship, then flown to Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York.
Photos released over the weekend show a dramatic shift in fortune for the former autocrat.
One image shows a handcuffed Maduro, wearing a sweatsuit and blindfold, aboard the USS Iwo Jima.
Another shows him in shackles on a New York tarmac, surrounded by DEA agents.
Despite the gravity of the charges, sources told ABC News, Maduro appeared calm and even joked with federal agents during his processing.
His wife, Cilia Flores, was also taken into custody and was seen with a head injury sustained during the raid.
President Trump stated Saturday that the U.S. would temporarily manage Venezuela to “fix” its oil infrastructure and sell its vast reserves.
However, the move has sparked intense legal debate.
“We’re going to run the country until we can do a safe transition,” Trump said during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago.
Back in Caracas, the situation remains volatile.
While some Venezuelans celebrated in the streets, others protested the “imperialist attack.”
Legal experts and members of Congress are already questioning the legality of the mission, noting it was carried out without congressional approval.
For now, the man who ruled Venezuela for over a decade sits in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, awaiting his day in a U.S. court.
