The Latest: Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to appear in New York City court
Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro returns to a New York courtroom Thursday as he seeks to have his drug trafficking indictment thrown out over a geopolitical dispute over legal fees.
It’s the first time that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, will be in court since a January arraignment at which he protested their capture by U.S. military forces and declared: “I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country.” Flores has also pleaded not guilty.
Both remain jailed at a detention center in Brooklyn, and neither has asked to be released on bail. Judge Alvin Hellerstein has yet to set a trial date, though that could happen at the hearing.
Here is the latest:
Trump says Maduro will ‘be given a fair trial’
During his Cabinet meeting, President Trump accused Maduro of being a “major purveyor of drugs coming into our country.”
Trump said Maduro would be given “a fair trial. But I would imagine there are other trials coming.” He didn’t provide details, but suggested the current charges Maduro is facing might be “a fraction of the kind of things that he’s done.”
A noisy scene near the courthouse in New York
Protesters and supporters are still gathering. They’re chanting, blowing horns and beating drums and cowbells.
Among the anti-Maduro contingent, one person is waving a sign reading, “Maduro rot in prison.”
On the other side of a metal barrier, people wave signs saying, “Free President Maduro.”
Court officer warns people in the gallery to stay quiet
The officer prefaced Thursday’s hearing with a warning to spectators to stay quiet and seated while the former Venezuelan president is in the courtroom.
People who speak out will be removed and could face legal consequences, he said. The officer acknowledged, “This may be a sensitive case for some of you” and added, “you’re in a federal courthouse. Please respect the institution and what it stands for.”
Supporters in Caracas take selfies, wave flags
In Caracas, many attendees wore the uniform of their state agency employer, took selfies to report to managers their participation at the event and waved Venezuelan flags as a group played regional music.
A woman attached action figures modeled after Maduro and Flores to her flag.
A screen behind the stage showed a photo of the couple taken during Maduro’s January 2025 swearing in ceremony and the phrase “83 days have gone by since their kidnapping.”
Supporters gather in Caracas to pray for Maduro and Flores
In Venezuela’s capital, a couple hundred people, among them ruling party supporters, state employees and civilian militia members, gathered at a public plaza Thursday morning, planning to pray for Maduro and Flores and to watch the couple’s hearing, unaware that U.S. federal courts do not allow cameras.
A large screen mixed footage of Maduro, the Venezuelan flag and the country’s recent World Baseball Classic championship win.
“We are going to see him today,” ruling party leader Carmen Melendez told the crowd. “We may see him skinnier. … But that’s our president.”
Pro-Maduro protesters rally outside the courthouse
A group of demonstrators held Venezuela flags and signs saying “Free President Maduro.” They also shouted “No boots on the ground, no bombs in the air. U.S. out of everywhere,” denouncing U.S. military actions abroad.
Some carried an inflatable doll depicting Maduro in orange clothing resembling prison garb.
Signs indicated some of the protesters were affiliated with the Workers World Party, which describes itself as a revolutionary socialist party.
Secure motorcades can slip through notorious New York traffic with ease
The last time Maduro appeared at the courthouse, he was brought there in spectacular fashion.
A helicopter flew him from Brooklyn to a heliport in Manhattan, where a motorcade of law enforcement vehicles whisked him to the courthouse in just a few minutes.
The city’s multiple local and federal law enforcement agencies have made an art form out of transporting important people through streets that are often choked with traffic.
When Trump was on trial at a courthouse in the same Lower Manhattan neighborhood in 2024, police made sure his Secret Service motorcade also had an unobstructed and traffic-free path to the courthouse.
Judge presiding over case has decades of experience
The judge presiding over Maduro’s case is 92 years old.
A native New Yorker, Alvin K. Hellerstein was nominated to the court by President Bill Clinton in 1998.
He’s not the oldest judge on the federal bench in New York. That honor belongs to Judge Louis L. Stanton, who is 98.
Hellerstein has handled many other big cases. For nearly 25 years, he has also presided over civil litigation resulting from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York.
Hearing not expected to address heavy legal issues
Legal issues surrounding the drug trafficking case against Maduro are expected to be complex, but they are unlikely to surface in a prolonged way at Thursday’s hearing.
The main subject of the court appearance involves how to pay his lawyers. Because of U.S. sanctions, the legal team can’t simply accept a check from Venezuela’s government. They need permission from the U.S. government. But U.S. authorities don’t want to grant it. They say Maduro can pay for his defense himself.
The dispute will get worked out in court.
Line forms early for Maduro court appearance
Seating will be limited inside the courtroom where Maduro was to appear, and the line to get in started forming a day early.
Several professional line sitters in tiny tents were set up outside the court by Wednesday afternoon.
Some news organizations spent hundreds of dollars to pay people to hold spots for reporters who would arrive in the morning when the courthouse opened.
Ex-Venezuelan president faces drug charges
The indictment against Maduro accuses him of carrying out a wide-ranging conspiracy to traffic illegal drugs into the U.S. for more than a quarter century.
It says he cleared the way for thousands of tons of cocaine to enter the United States by teaming up at times with Venezuelan law enforcement to aid drug kingpins.
Maduro says he’s innocent. His supporters say that the U.S. military seized Maduro because U.S. President Donald Trump wanted regime change in Venezuela.