Maduro in court- U.S. kidnapped Me

Maduro, making first court appearance, says U.S. ‘kidnapped’ him

As the deposed Venezuelan president and his wife, Cilia Flores, grapple with the U.S. legal system, his former vice president consolidates power. 

Law enforcement officials move deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, out of a helicopter as they head to an initial court appearance Monday in New York. (Adam Gray/Reuters)

By Shayna Jacobs, Tim Craig and Mark Berman  WP 05-01-2026

NEW YORK — Deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro made his first court appearance Monday in New York and said he was “kidnapped” by the U.S. government, assailing the Trump administration for capturing him and portraying himself as his country’s rightful leader.

The brief court proceedings in downtown Manhattan offered the first public opportunity for Maduro to speak since he and his wife, Cilia Flores, were seized by U.S. forces Saturday in Caracas. The night time raid, which followed months of escalating U.S. pressure on Maduro, set off shock waves across the globe, provoked confusion in Venezuela about that nation’s leadership and prompted fears that President Donald Trump could act on threats he has made to other countries, including Cuba, Colombia and Canada.

For Maduro and Flores, Monday’s hearing was the first step in what is likely to be a drawn-out legal process, one that Maduro’s attorney expects will be “voluminous and complicated.”

An indictment unsealed after their capture alleged that Maduro “sits atop a corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking.” The indictment said Maduro has “remained in power despite losses in recent elections,” and accused him, his wife and others in their inner circle of amassing wealth and power while carrying out “a relentless campaign of cocaine trafficking.Follow

Maduro faces four counts, including narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy and gun charges. His wife is charged with cocaine importation conspiracy and related weapons charges. Both entered pleas of not guilty.

The hearing, lasting just over 35 minutes, combined the familiar routine of an initial court appearance with the extraordinary sight of Maduro, who only days earlier had been a strongman wielding power over an entire nation, seated at a defense table, clad in jailhouse garb and following instructions from a judge.

Maduro used the hearing to protest his presence in an American courtroom.

“My name is President Nicolás Maduro Moros,” he said, according to interpreters who translated his remarks from Spanish to English in court. “I am president of the Republic of Venezuela. I am here kidnapped since January 3rd, Saturday. I was captured at my home in Caracas, Venezuela.”

U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, overseeing the hearing, cut him short.

“There will be a time and a place to go into all of this,” said the 92-year-old jurist, who was nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton in 1998.

Hellerstein pledged that he would work to ensure Maduro and Flores receive “a fair trial and fair proceedings.” The judge also read Maduro his rights, including his right to counsel and to remain silent.

“I did not know of these rights,” Maduro responded, according to the interpreters. “Your honor is informing me of them now.”

As Maduro declared his innocence in New York, his former No. 2 in Venezuela — Delcy Rodríguez, who had been the country’s vice president — was moving to consolidate power there.

Rodríguez, 56, viewed by some U.S. officials and analysts as more pragmatic than Maduro, was officially sworn in Monday as acting president at the National Assembly in Caracas. She initially denounced Maduro’s capture, but on Sunday struck a more conciliatory tone toward the Trump administration, calling for “peaceful coexistence.”

After being sworn in Monday, Rodríguez again rebuked the Trump administration’s actions, portraying Maduro’s capture as an illegitimate act.

“I come with sorrow for the suffering inflicted upon the Venezuelan people by an illegitimate military aggression against our homeland,” she said. “I come with sorrow for the kidnapping of two heroes” held hostage in the United States, she said.

In New York, Maduro also portrayed his arrest as improper, referring to himself during Monday’s hearing as “the constitutional president of my country” and “a decent man.”

As he was being escorted from the courtroom, a self-described former political prisoner in Venezuela began heckling him. The man, who later identified himself as Pedro Rojas, 33, stood and called Maduro an illegitimate president. Maduro could be heard calling himself a prisoner of war in response.

The hearing began more placidly, with Maduro greeting attendees in the courtroom by repeating “Happy New Year” in English multiple times as he was escorted to his seat at the defense table. He and Flores were given headphones to hear translations of the proceedings, and they spoke in Spanish when prompted.

Maduro spent much of the session taking diligent handwritten notes. He initially wrote on a copy of his indictment, remarking at one point that he had seen it for the first time at the courthouse. He later made notations on a yellow legal pad that he asked to take with him to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn where he is being held.

Attorneys for Maduro and Flores consented, for now, to pretrial detention, although they could ask for bail later. Both defendants need medical care in custody, their attorneys said, asking Hellerstein to ensure they would receive proper medical care.

Maduro, 63, has “some health and medical issues that will require attention,” said his lawyer, Barry Pollack. An attorney for Flores, 69, said she was injured during her capture and asked the judge to authorize an X-ray and physical to determine the extent of her injuries, including whether her ribs were fractured or bruised. Bandages could be seen on Flores’s forehead.

Hellerstein directed prosecutors and the defense to arrange for treatment for both defendants.

During a discussion about pretrial scheduling, Pollack said the case would involve “a voluminous and complicated legal process.”

“There are issues here about the legality of his military abduction,” Pollack told Hellerstein. The attorney said legal filings would focus on “privileges and immunities” Maduro is entitled to as head of a sovereign state.

Kyle Wirshba, an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said his office would begin giving evidence to the defense once both parties agree on an order sealing this material from outside observers.

The next hearing is scheduled for March 17.

The raid to capture Maduro, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday involved about 200 U.S. troops, sparked new waves of unease and uncertainty in Venezuela, with residents unsure what would come next.

Much of the leftist power structure that rules Venezuela appeared to be publicly backing Rodríguez, including Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López, widely seen as controlling the military, and Nicolás Maduro Guerra, Maduro’s son and an influential national lawmaker. Guerra is also charged in the indictment but remains in Venezuela.

Venezuela’s national, state and municipal police forces have been ordered to immediately search for and arrest anyone “involved in promoting or supporting the armed attack by the United States of America” under a decree that places the country under a “state of external commotion.” The decree, which took effect Saturday but was published in full Monday, grants the government sweeping emergency powers.

There were also reports on social media of new checkpoints set up in the capital by masked members of the military as well as pro-government militias on motorcycles. Venezuela’s National Press Workers Union said at least 14 journalists had been detained.

The Trump administration has offered mixed signals on what top U.S. officials think lies ahead for Venezuela. After Maduro’s capture, Trump announced that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela, saying: “We’ll run it properly. We’ll run it professionally.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, though, has taken a different tack, suggesting in television interviews that the U.S. was “running policy” rather than the country itself.

“This was not an invasion,” he said on NBC. “This was not an extended military operation. This was a very precise operation that involved a couple of hours of action.”

Berman reported from Washington. Tara Copp, Dan Lamothe and María Luisa Paúl in Washington, Ana Herrero in Caracas and Anthony Faiola in Rome contributed to this report.