Maduro to Make 1st US Court A 01/05 06:16

   Deposed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is set to make his first 
appearance Monday in an American courtroom on the narco-terrorism charges the 
Trump administration used to justify capturing him and bringing him to New York.

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Deposed Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro is set to make 
his first appearance Monday in an American courtroom on the narco-terrorism 
charges the Trump administration used to justify capturing him and bringing him 
to New York.

   Maduro and his wife are expected to appear at noon before a judge for a 
brief, but required, legal proceeding that will likely kick off a prolonged 
legal fight over whether he can be put on trial in the U.S.

   The couple will be brought from a Brooklyn jail to a Manhattan courthouse 
just around the corner from the one where President Donald Trump was convicted 
in 2024 of falsifying business records.

   As a criminal defendant in the U.S. legal system, Maduro will have the same 
rights as any other person accused of a crime -- including the right to a trial 
by a jury of regular New Yorkers. But he'll also be nearly -- but not quite -- 
unique.

   Maduro's lawyers are expected to contest the legality of his arrest, arguing 
that he is immune from prosecution as a sovereign head of state.

   Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega unsuccessfully tried the same defense 
after the U.S. captured him in a similar military invasion in 1990. But the 
U.S. doesn't recognize Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate head of state -- 
particularly after a much-disputed 2024 reelection.

   Venezuela's new interim president, Delcy Rodrguez, has demanded that the 
U.S. return Maduro, who long denied any involvement in drug trafficking -- 
although late Sunday she also struck a more conciliatory tone in a social media 
post, inviting collaboration with Trump and "respectful relations" with the U.S.

   Before his capture, Maduro and his allies claimed U.S. hostility was 
motivated by lust for Venezuela's rich oil and mineral resources.

   The U.S. seized Maduro and his wife in a military operation Saturday, 
capturing them in their home on a military base. Trump said the U.S. would 
"run" Venezuela temporarily, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday 
that it would not govern the country day-to-day other than enforcing an 
existing " oil quarantine."

   Trump suggested Sunday that he wants to extend American power further in the 
Western Hemisphere.

   Speaking aboard Air Force One, he called Colombia's president, Gustavo 
Petro, "a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United 
States. And he's not going to be doing it very long."

   He called on Venezuela's Rodriguez to provide "total access" to her country, 
or else face consequences.

   A 25-page indictment made public Saturday accuses Maduro and others of 
working with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of 
cocaine into the U.S. They could face life in prison if convicted.

   It wasn't clear as of Sunday whether Maduro had hired a U.S. lawyer yet.

   He and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been under U.S. sanctions for years, 
making it illegal for any American to take money from them without first 
securing a license from the Treasury Department.

   While the indictment against Maduro says Venezuelan officials worked 
directly with the Tren de Aragua gang, a U.S. intelligence assessment published 
in April, drawing on input from the intelligence community's 18 agencies, found 
no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government.

   Maduro, his wife and his son -- who remains free -- are charged along with 
Venezuela's interior and justice minister, a former interior and justice 
minister and Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, an alleged Tren de Aragua 
leader who has been criminally charged in another case and remains at large.

   Among other things, the indictment accuses Maduro and his wife of ordering 
kidnappings, beatings and murders of those who owed them drug money or 
undermined their drug trafficking operation. That included a local drug boss' 
killing in Caracas, the indictment said.

   Maduro's wife is also accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars 
in bribes in 2007 to arrange a meeting between "a large-scale drug trafficker" 
and the director of Venezuela's National Anti-Drug Office, resulting in 
additional monthly bribes, with some of the money going to Maduro's wife, 
according to the indictment.