“I am innocent and still the president of Venezuela.”

Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro pleaded not guilty on Monday to the charges against him, particularly related to drug trafficking, when he appeared before a court in New York, two days after he was arrested with his wife in Caracas during a stunning American military operation.

“I am innocent, I am not guilty,” Maduro, 63, said before the court, adding that he was arrested at his home in Caracas and still considers himself the president of Venezuela, according to what American media reported inside the courtroom.

Maduro, who spoke in Spanish, added: “I am the President of the Republic of Venezuela and I have been kidnapped here since Saturday, January 3rd.” But Judge Alvin Hellerstein ordered Maduro to only mention his name.

Also, his wife, Celia Flores, pleaded not guilty, and the judge ordered them to remain in prison and set March 17 as the date of the next hearing.

Thousands of people participated in a march in the streets of Caracas in support of Maduro, while his former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, was sworn in as acting president.

She said before Parliament: “I appear before you and I am overwhelmed with pain because of the kidnapping of two heroes who are hostages in the United States, and I am also honored to take the oath in the name of all Venezuelans.” Meanwhile, unidentified drones flew near the presidential palace in Caracas, prompting security forces to open fire.

Since Saturday evening, Maduro has been in a prison in Brooklyn, which is classified as one of the largest prisons in the United States and is known for its poor health conditions and gaps in its management. He faces four charges of drug trafficking and possession of automatic weapons.

Maduro and Flores (69 years old) were named in a new indictment issued on Saturday, along with four other people, including Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who is considered one of the most powerful figures in the country, and Nicolas Maduro’s son.

The indictment states that Nicolas Maduro “currently heads a corrupt and illegitimate government that has for decades used state power to protect and promote illegal activities, including drug trafficking. This trafficking has enriched and strengthened the power of the Venezuelan political and military elite.”

They are accused, in particular, of allying with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which Washington classifies as a “terrorist” group, as well as with criminal gangs “to smuggle tons of cocaine into the United States.”

Threats to the system

In light of Washington’s warnings to her of the need to take the “correct” steps, Rodriguez expressed on Saturday morning her readiness to cooperate with the United States within the framework of “balanced and respectful relations… based on sovereign equality and non-interference.”

She said after holding her first cabinet meeting, “We call on the American government to work together on a cooperation agenda that focuses on common development within the framework of international law in order to promote sustainable societal coexistence.”

For his part, President of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, the acting president’s brother who was re-elected on Monday, pledged to use “all possible means” to ensure Maduro’s return.

Nicolas Maduro Guerra, the son of the ousted president, stressed that his father would return “sooner or later.”

Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday evening when asked if he spoke to Rodriguez: “We are dealing with people who have just been sworn in. Don’t ask me who is responsible because I will give you an answer and it will be very controversial.”

When asked what he meant, he said, “It means we are the ones running” things in Venezuela.

Trump also warned Rodriguez in an interview with the American magazine “The Atlantic” that “unless she does the right thing, she will pay a very high price, perhaps even greater than Maduro.”

The US President ruled out holding any elections in Venezuela within the next thirty days, saying in an interview with NBC that the United States must “return the country to normal first.”

Several countries challenge the legitimacy of the American intervention, which the United States portrays as a “police operation.”

Venezuelan Defense Minister General Vladimir Padrino Lopez acknowledged that the meticulously planned arrest of Hugo Chavez’s successor, who ruled Venezuela with an iron fist for more than a decade, resulted in the killing of a “large portion” of his bodyguards.

During the operation, 32 members of the Cuban security forces were killed, according to the government of Cuba, an ally of Caracas, which declared two days of national mourning.
On Monday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that about two hundred members of the US forces entered the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, as part of the operation to arrest Maduro.

Cuba and Colombia

“Cuba is about to fall,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One, hinting at the difficulty of the country’s survival without Venezuelan oil revenues.

On Sunday evening, the US President said that carrying out an operation in Colombia similar to the one conducted in Venezuela seemed like a “good idea,” accusing leftist President Gustavo Petro of smuggling drugs into the United States, and warning that he “would not continue this for long.”

In response to these statements, the Colombian president pledged on Monday to “take up arms again” in the face of Trump’s threats.

An expert at the International Crisis Group, Brian Finucane, told AFP that Trump “seems to ignore international law in its entirety” in Venezuela, pointing out that domestic US laws also appear to be being violated.

While the United States asserts that it no longer wants to interfere in the political affairs of other countries, as it did in Iraq and Afghanistan in the first decade of this century, Trump has not hidden his interest in Venezuela’s vast oil resources, which contain the largest proven reserves of crude oil in the world.

The US President stated that he would allow American oil companies to exploit Venezuelan oil reserves that the country sells on the black market, especially to China.

In addition, the Swiss government announced on Monday that it had decided to freeze any assets owned by Maduro and his partners in Switzerland “with immediate effect.”