Ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro has entered a not guilty plea in his first court appearance in New York.
Maduro was captured in a US military operation and now faces drugs and weapons charges.
His wife, Cilia Flores, has also pleaded not guilty.
Maduro’s statement in New York was his first since being brought to the US, saying: “I am not guilty, I am a decent man, I am still the president of my country.”
Flores then stood to make her plea, telling the court: “I am Cilia Flores Maduro, I am the First Lady of Venezuela.”
She insisted she is “completely innocent” as she delivered her plea.
The judge told the couple they have a right to consult with consular officials, an offer taken up by Maduro.
Maduro was then ordered to appear in court on March 17 for his hearing.
Maduro pleaded not guilty in court
|REUTERS
Maduro’s court appearance follows years of mounting legal pressure from the United States, which first indicted the Venezuelan president in 2020 on charges linked to drug trafficking and narco-terrorism.
US prosecutors allege that Maduro helped lead the so-called “Cartel of the Suns,” accused of conspiring with Colombia’s FARC rebels to flood the United States with cocaine.
The indictment claims Maduro used narcotics trafficking as a weapon against the US, while allegedly accepting millions of dollars in bribes to protect drug routes through Venezuela.
Washington has long accused his government of corruption, human rights abuses and undermining democratic institutions.
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Maduro has consistently denied the allegations, dismissing them as politically motivated and part of a broader campaign to remove him from power.
The row came to a head over the weekend as US troops swooped in to seize the Venezuelan leader over the weekend in what was the most significant US military intervention in Latin America since the 1989 Panama invasion.
Maduro has been held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Centre (MDC) alongside his 69-year-old wife.
They were both placed in solitary confinement away from the general prison population.
President Maduro will stand trial in the US on 'criminal charges' | REUTERS The White House released footage showing Maduro walking through the detention centre’s corridors shortly after his arrival on Saturday night.
Many Venezuelan expats have paid the jail a visit to celebrate outside with swathes arriving as the motorcade carrying the deposed leader arrived.