Maduro pleads not guilty in explosive US drug case

Watch Maduro pleads not guilty in explosive US drug case - New York Post on Dailymotion

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00:00Protesters gathered outside a New York federal court on Monday, where inside, toppled Venezuelan

00:07President Nicolas Maduro stood before a U.S. judge to face charges that could put him behind

00:12bars for life. Through an interpreter, Maduro said, I am innocent, I am not guilty, I am a

00:19decent man, I am still president of my country, before being cut off. Maduro faces four U.S.

00:25federal criminal counts that include narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation

00:30conspiracy, and possession of machine guns and destructive devices. His next court date is set

00:36for March 17. His wife, Celia Flores, faces the same charges except for narco-terrorism. She also

00:44pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors allege that as president, Maduro directed cocaine trafficking

00:50routes, used the military to protect shipments, sheltered violent trafficking groups, and

00:55used presidential facilities to move drugs. He was first indicted in 2020 as part of a

01:01long-running narcotics trafficking case against Venezuelan officials and Colombian guerrillas.

01:07The 63-year-old has long denied the allegations, saying they're a mask to take Venezuela's rich

01:13oil reserves, which U.S. President Donald Trump has made no secret of wanting.

01:18We're in charge.

01:19On Monday, the U.N. Security Council debated the implications of Trump's raid, which Russia,

01:25China, and leftist allies of Venezuela condemned. Venezuela's U.N. Ambassador Samuel Mankato said

01:33Maduro's arrest has threatened international norms. Accepting this logic implies opening the door to a

01:41profoundly unstable world where countries with greater military capabilities can decide by force

01:47the political and economic destiny of other states. While world leaders and U.S. politicians

01:54grappled with the extraordinary seizure of a head of state, an emergency order in Venezuela, published in

02:00full on Monday, ordered police to search and capture anyone who supported Saturday's U.S. attack.

02:08Also on Monday, Venezuela's vice president and oil minister, Delcy Rodriguez, was formally sworn in as the

02:15country's interim president, with words of support for Maduro, but no indication she would fight the U.S. move.