Key events
Prosecutors say Nicolás Maduro is the kingpin of a cartel of Venezuelan political and military officials who have conspired for decades with drug trafficking groups and US-designated terrorist organisations to flood the America with thousands of tonnes of cocaine.
As Reuters reports, Maduro was first indicted in 2020 as part of a long-running narcotics trafficking case against current and former Venezuelan officials and Colombian guerrillas.
In a new indictment unsealed Saturday, prosecutors allege that Maduro personally oversaw a state-sponsored cocaine trafficking network that partnered with some of the world’s most violent and prolific drug trafficking groups, including Mexico’s Sinaloa and Zetas cartels, the Colombian paramilitary group FARC and the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Maduro is charged with narco-terrorism, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. He faces decades to life in prison on each count if convicted.
Legal experts said prosecutors face a difficult task, needing to show evidence of Maduro’s direct involvement in drug trafficking to secure a conviction.
Maduro has denied wrongdoing, and it could be several months before he stands trial.
Nicolás Maduro is set to appear in Manhattan federal court later today to face narco-terrorism charges.
Maduro, 63, and his wife, Cilia Flores, are in jail in Brooklyn after their seizure by US forces.
They are both set to appear at the hearing scheduled for Noon EST (5pm GMT ) before US District Judge Alvin K Hellerstein.
It is unclear if either had obtained lawyers, or if they would enter pleas.
Venezuela’s president was captured, flown to the US and is now facing trial in New York. What does the audacious ouster of Nicolás Maduro mean for the country – and the world?
Find out in our podcast here:
Petro tells Trump to ‘stop slandering me
Colombian president Gustavo Petro has rejected threats by Donald Trump and the US president’s accusations that he is drug trafficker.
Trump on Sunday threatened Colombia with similar military action to the weekend raid against Venezuela, saying Colombia was “run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States” but that he “is not going to be doing it very long”.
Petro rebuffed the accusations, saying his “name does not appear in court records”.
“Stop slandering me, Mr. Trump,” Petro said on X on Sunday.
That’s not how you threaten a Latin American president who emerged from the armed struggle and then from the people of Colombia’s fight for Peace.
Petro has harshly criticised the Trump administration’s military action in the region and accused Washington of abducting Maduro “without legal basis”, as Agence France-Presse reports.
In a later post to X on Sunday, Petro added that “friends do not bomb”.
Analysis: European leaders appear torn in face of new world order
Patrick Wintour
European leaders emerged divided and torn as they tried to welcome the ejection of Venezuela’s authoritarian president but still uphold the principles of international law that did not appear to allow Donald Trump to seize Nicolás Maduro, let alone declare that the US will run Venezuela and control its oil industry.
Europe tried to focus on the principle of a democratic transition, pointing out that the continent had not recognised Maduro as the legitimate leader of Venezuela since what were widely regarded as fraudulent elections in June 2024.
But Trump’s rejection of the Nobel prize-winning Venezuelan opposition figurehead, María Corina Machado, was awkward. Trump said she did not have support or respect in Venezuela, but European leaders have embraced her as leading an opposition that deserves power.
You can read the full analysis here:
Donald Trump has threatened a second American strike on Venezuela if remaining members of its government do not cooperate with his efforts to get the country “fixed”.
In comments aboard Air Force One, the president also says the US is now “in charge” of Venezuela and praises the US forces involved in what he called a “very dangerous operation” to capture Maduro.
Keir Starmer has said when asked if he would condemn the US action in Venezuela that he wants to wait to “establish the facts” and speak to Donald Trump, while insisting the UK would “shed no tears” over the end of Maduro’s regime.
However, some of the British prime minister’s own MPs have been more outspoken, criticising America’s actions as a breach of international law.
Labour MP Kim Johnson questioned whether “we as a country still stand for international law and sovereignty”, while her colleague Richard Burgon described Starmer’s statement as “shameful and reckless”.
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said that “effectively our country has been rendered up as a Trump colony”, accusing the government of “prevarication”.
In a post on X, Labour MP Clive Lewis said of the US action: “A clear breach of the Nuremberg principles – which the UK helped write.
Now a [Labour government] won’t even defend them. This silence isn’t diplomacy. It’s the moral equivalent of a white flag.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage after US forces seized Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in Caracas and took him to the US to face drug charges.
Donald Trump said after the military operation early on Saturday that the US would “run” Venezuela and warned on Sunday that the US might launch a second strike if the government’s remaining members did not cooperate with his efforts to get the country “fixed”.
Venezuelan vice-president and Maduro ally Delcy Rodríguez has been appointed acting president and offered “to collaborate” with the Trump administration in what could be a major shift in relations between the governments.
In a conciliatory message on Instagram on Sunday she said she hoped to build “respectful relations” with Trump.
“We invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence,” Rodríguez said.
In a televised address earlier Rodríguez gave no indication she would cooperate with Trump, saying what was being done to Venezuela was “an atrocity that violates international law”, referring to Trump’s government as “extremists” and maintaining that Maduro was Venezuela’s rightful leader.
But Trump warned later that if Rodríguez didn’t fall in line, “she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro”.
In other key developments:
-
Rodríguez announced a commission to seek the release of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
-
Maduro is in a New York detention centre awaiting a court appearance on Monday on drug charges.
-
Top officials in Maduro’s government called the seizure of Maduro and his wife a kidnapping. “Let no one fall for the enemy’s provocations,” interior minister Diosdado Cabello said.
-
Trump’s administration described Maduro’s capture as a law-enforcement mission to force him to face US criminal charges filed in 2020, including narco-terrorism conspiracy. Maduro has denied criminal involvement.
-
Maduro’s son, Nicolás Ernesto Maduro Guerra, reportedly said his father’s supporters were more resolved than ever to support Maduro and the ousted president would return. “We will take to the streets, we will convene the people.”
-
Trump suggested Colombia and Mexico could also face military action if they did not reduce the flow of illicit drugs to the US, saying: “Operation Colombia sounds good to me.”
-
Images of the 63-year-old Maduro blindfolded and handcuffed stunned Venezuelans. The operation was Washington’s most controversial intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama 37 years ago.
-
Venezuelan defence minister Gen Vladimir Padrino said on state television the US attack killed soldiers, civilians and a “large part” of Maduro’s security detail “in cold blood”. Venezuela’s armed forces had been activated to guarantee sovereignty, he said.
-
The Cuban government said 32 of its citizens were killed during the raid.
-
The governments of Spain, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay said in a joint statement the US actions “constitute an extremely dangerous precedent for peace and regional security and endanger the civilian population”.
-
All EU countries except Hungary issued a statement calling for restraint by “all actors” and respect for the will of the Venezuelan people in order to “restore democracy”.
-
UK prime minister Keir Starmer said Britain was not involved in the attack but refused to condemn it. British cabinet minister Darren Jones – a close ally of Starmer – called for a peaceful transition of power in Venezuela to be reached “quickly”.
-
Trump suggested the US would not push for immediate elections to install a new government but rather would work with remaining members of the Maduro administration to clamp down on drug trafficking and overhaul its oil industry. He said US oil companies needed “total access” to the country’s vast reserves.
-
Hundreds of Chavismo supporters gathered in Caracus on Sunday to demand the release of Maduro and Flores.
With news agencies
