Former Venezuelan President Maduro Returns to US Court in Drug Trafficking Case

NEW YORK (International Desk) — Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro appeared in a US court again on Wednesday with his lawyers, where he is expected to continue challenging the legality of the military operation that removed him from power and brought him to New York to face drug trafficking charges.
Maduro, 63, and his wife, Cilia Flores, 69, have been held in a Brooklyn jail since US forces raided their home in Caracas in a midnight operation and flew them to New York in early January. Both have pleaded not guilty.
US prosecutors allege that Maduro colluded with Venezuelan law enforcement agencies to assist major drug traffickers in smuggling thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States. If a jury finds him guilty of conspiring to send cocaine to the US, he could face life in prison.
The Trump administration has described the raid as the enforcement of a criminal case filed six years ago, while Maduro has called himself a prisoner of war and described his arrest as a kidnapping. During his initial hearing in January, he said in Spanish, “I am not guilty. I am a good man and the constitutional president of my country.”
Maduro’s attorney, Barry Pollack, said he would challenge the legality of what he called Maduro’s “military kidnapping.” Neither Maduro nor Flores has yet requested bail, and Judge Alvin Hellerstein has not set a trial date