*He Was Head Of Drug Cartel, Not Legitimate President, Says Secretary Of State
*’Cooperated With Hezbollah,Narco-Terrorist Groups, Gave Them Open Camps Inside Venezuela’
Republican United States (US) Senator Mike Lee said today that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had told him Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was arrested by US forces to stand trial on criminal charges in the US.
“He [Rubio] anticipates no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in US custody,” Lee wrote on X after a call with Washington’s top diplomat.
US Attorney General Confirms Maduro Faces Criminal Charges After Indictment In New York
US Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, will face criminal charges after an indictment in New York.
Bondi vowed in a social media post that the couple will “soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”
Maduro was indicted in 2020 in New York, but it was not previously known that his wife had been.
Rubio Says Maduro ‘Under Indictment For Pushing Drugs In United States’
Rubio has issued a statement which he posted on X: “Maduro is NOT the President of Venezuela and his regime is not the legitimate government. Maduro is the head of the Cartel de Los Soles, a narco-terror organisation that has taken control of the country. And he is under indictment for pushing drugs in the United States.”
‘ Maduro Cooperates With Hezbollah, Criminal Gangs’
At a year-end State Department press conference, Rubio pointed to US complaints and goals regarding Maduro and Venezuela.
He said: “We have a regime that’s illegitimate that cooperates with Iran, that cooperates with Hezbollah, that cooperates with narco-trafficking and narco-terrorist organizations inclusive, not just protecting their shipments and allowing them to operate with impunity, but also allows some of them to control territory, the ELN and the FARC-D. They have open camps that they control territory inside of Venezuela. That is our national interest, and that is what this is focused on.
“That’s what we have been focused on the entire time, because that is the threat to the national interest of the United States. Do we consider Maduro legitimate? No. (But) it’s not me, a grand jury in New York in the southern district of New York was presented evidence and came back with an indictment, not just against Maduro, by the way, but against a bunch of people in his government, for narco-trafficking.”
Rubio said that until President Trump started doing something about these narco-trafficking links “nobody disputed that Maduro and his regime was in cahoots with narco-traffickers, not to mention the fact that they unleashed Tren de Aragua gangs on the United States they’ve unleashed a mass migration event, perhaps the largest in history – 8m people have left Venezuela since 2014, destabilizing all the countries in the region.”
Russia Calls For ‘Immediate Clarity’ On Maduro’s Whereabouts
Russia has demanded “immediate” clarification about the circumstances of the reported US abduction of Venezuelan President Maduro during an attack ordered by President Donald Trump.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement: “We are extremely alarmed by reports that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were forcibly removed from the country as a result of today’s US aggression. We call for an immediate clarification of the situation.”
Earlier, Venezuela’s Vice-President, Delcy Rodríguez, said the US needed to provide “proof of life” for Maduro.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Maduro before his capture.
