Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will appear in a Manhattan court on Thursday to argue that drug trafficking charges against him should be dismissed, more than two months after he and his wife were captured in a surprise US raid in Caracas.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been involved in a dispute over US sanctions that prevent the Venezuelan government pay for the couple’s legal defense.
Maduro, 63, and Flores, 69, have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them, including conspiracy to commit narcoterrorism, and remain imprisoned in Brooklyn awaiting trial.
They have asked US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein to dismiss the charges, arguing that his inability to receive Venezuelan public funds interferes with his right to have a lawyer of his choice, protected by the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Their lawyers have said that Maduro and Flores cannot afford their defense costs themselves.
Maduro’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, who represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, has stated that he will withdraw from the case if Hellerstein does not dismiss the charges and the Venezuelan government cannot pay his fees. It is unknown how much Pollack charges Maduro for his services. Pollack did not respond to a request for comment.
US special forces captured Maduro and Flores in a surprise attack on January 3 at their Caracas residence and flown them to New York to face drug trafficking charges, an operation that Reuters details in an analysis of the covert mission and its geopolitical repercussions.
The hearing is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. local time. For their previous court appearance in January, a helicopter took them from the jail to Manhattan.
Maduro and his wife, who will also be present in court, say that, according to Venezuelan law and custom, the government covers the expenses of the president and first lady.
Prosecutors argue that since the United States has not recognized Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate president since 2019, neither he nor Flores should expect the US government to allow Venezuela to pay their legal fees. Prosecutors say Maduro and Flores can be assigned public defenders if they cannot afford their own lawyers.
Maduro faces four felony charges, including narcoterrorism conspiracy, which criminalizes drug trafficking to finance activities the United States considers terrorism. This law has rarely been tested in trials, and two of the three convictions handed down in trials were overturned due to issues related to witness credibility, according to a Reuters analysis of court records.
During his first term in the White House, President Donald Trump escalated sanctions against Venezuela, alleging that Maduro’s government was corrupt and undermining democratic institutions. Washington described Maduro’s 2018 re-election as fraudulent.
Maduro dismissed those accusations, along with allegations of his participation in drug trafficking.calling them pretexts for what he called the United States’ desire to take control of the vast oil reserves of the South American OPEC member country.
Relations between Caracas and Washington have improved since Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s vice president while he was in power, took over as president after his capture.
