Nicolas Maduro has been pictured being led into the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) by its agents fewer than 24 hours after American forced captured him in Venezuela.
The dictator was seen being "perp walked" down a hallway by US agents with his hands clasped together around a bottle of water.
He angrily wished bystanders a "Happy New Year" and bid them goodnight in his first remarks since his capture in capital Caracas.
Earlier, Mr Maduro was charged with a slew of drugs and weapons offences after he was taken.
Perp walked.pic.twitter.com/34iIsFUDdG
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 4, 2026
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Donald Trump said US forces stormed a “fortress” to capture him in a “TV show-like” operation.
Mr Trump was outlining details of the daring raid in Caracas as he revealed: "We were going to do this four days ago but the weather was not perfect."
"The weather has to be perfect... all of a sudden it opened up and we said go.”
He explained that Mr Maduro was apprehended "in a house that was more like a fortress than a house" with "solid steel all around".
The Venezuelan premier was then taken via helicopter with his wife Cilia Flores to the USS Iwo Jima, before being flown to New York City.
Nicolas Maduro has been pictured being led into the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) by its agents
|WHITE HOUSE
PICTURED: Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores are led into the DEA
There, the couple had their biometrics, fingerprints and mugshots taken before their details were entered into the US Customs and Border Protection database.
The couple also will have had to undertake medical checks ahead of their transportation to the DEA office in New York, where they will be booked again.
Now, Mr Maduro is now being held in the Metropolitan Detention Centre in the Big Apple - which has housed so-called "celebrity prisoners" such as Mexican drug lord El Chapo, Luigi Mangione, Ghislaine Maxwell and P Diddy.
He and his wife have been charged with:
- Conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism and import cocaine;
- Possession of machine guns and destructive devices;
- Conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the US.
VENEZUELA FALLS - READ MORE:
Nicolas Maduro was seen standing in a grey Nike tracksuit, wearing dark goggles and ear defenders, and holding a bottle of water aboard the USS Iwo Jima
|TRUTH SOCIAL
The Maduros will be held under new "socialist" Mayor Zohran Mamdani's nose in NYC.
Mr Mamdani released a muted statement promising he would "continue to monitor the situation" - though managed to condemn the attack on Venezuela as an "act of war".
The dictator was earlier seen aboard the Iwo Jima on Saturday in a photo shared by the US President online.
In the picture, the ousted leader could be seen standing in a grey Nike tracksuit, wearing dark goggles and ear defenders, and holding a bottle of water.
Donald Trump confirmed Venezuela will be placed under temporary American control on Saturday
| GETTYLike at the DEA, he appeared to be in handcuffs.
Without its President, Venezuela will be placed under temporary American control, Mr Trump said on Saturday.
"We will run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition," he said. "We can't take a chance that someone else takes over Venezuela who doesn't have the interests of Venezuelans in mind."
As part of the takeover, American oil companies would move into the country - which boasts the world's largest oil reserves - and refurbish badly degraded oil infrastructure.
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