Captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, arrive at the Wall Street Heliport during their transport to the federal courthouse for their arraignment in New York, New York, Jan. 5, 2026.
Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges at a defiant appearance in a New York court on Jan. 5, two days after being snatched by U.S. forces in a stunning raid on his home in Caracas.
Maduro, 63, told a federal judge in Manhattan "I'm innocent. I'm not guilty."
Smiling as he entered the courtroom and wearing an orange shirt with beige trousers, Maduro spoke softly.
"I'm president of the Republic of Venezuela and I'm here kidnapped since Jan. 3, Saturday," Maduro told the court, speaking in Spanish through an interpreter. "I was captured at my home in Caracas, Venezuela."
Maduro's wife Cilia Flores likewise pleaded not guilty. The judge ordered both to remain behind bars and set a new hearing date of March 17.
The presidential couple were forcibly taken by U.S. commandos in the early hours of Jan. 3 in airstrikes on the Venezuelan capital backed by warplanes and a heavy naval deployment.
Thousands of people marched through Caracas in support of Maduro as his former deputy, Delcy Rodriguez, was sworn in as interim president.
Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado slammed Rodriguez, saying she was "rejected" by the Venezuelan people and calling her "one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narcotrafficking."
Speaking from an undisclosed location to broadcaster Sean Hannity on Fox News in her first public comments since the weekend, Machado added that she plans to return to Venezuela "as soon as possible" after leaving under cover last month to accept her Nobel Peace Prize.
After the raid, Trump declared that the United States was "in charge" in Venezuela and intends to take control of the country's huge but decrepit oil industry.
The 79-year-old president also dismissed the idea of Caracas having new elections in the next month.
"We have to fix the country first. You can't have an election. There's no way the people could even vote," Trump told broadcaster NBC News in an interview aired on Jan. 5.
However, U.S. House Speaker and Trump ally Mike Johnson said he thinks an election "should happen in short order" in Venezuela.
Maduro became president in 2013, taking over from his equally hardline socialist predecessor Hugo Chavez.
The United States and European Union say he stayed in power by rigging elections, most recently in 2024, and imprisoning opponents, while overseeing rampant corruption.
The crisis after a quarter century of leftist rule now leaves Venezuela's approximately 30 million people, and the world's largest proven oil reserves, facing uncertainty.
Trump has said he wants to work with Rodriguez and the rest of Maduro's former team, provided that they submit to U.S. demands on oil.
And after an initially hostile response, Rodriguez said she is ready for "cooperation."
