*Wife In High Spirits
*Case Adjourned To 17 March
Deposed leader of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, pleaded “not guilty” to all four counts against him today, including drug-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine-importation conspiracy, and possession of machine guns and destructive devices.
“I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man,” Maduro told judge Alvin Hellerstein in court today.
Lawyers representing Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, told CBS News that she is in “good spirits” and that she is “aware that there is a long road ahead and is prepared.”
“We look forward to reviewing and challenging the evidence the government has,” attorney Mark E Donnelly told CBS News in a statement after Flores’ court appearance. “While we would love to present our side now, we will wait to do so in court at the appropriate time.”
Lawyers for both Maduro and his wife said that their clients won’t seek bail at this time; the next hearing will take place on 17 March.
Blow-by-Blow Account Of Courtroom Proceedings
In downtown Manhattan the spectacle played out as Maduro’s larger-than-life persona soon filled Judge Alvin Hellerstein’s courtroom with a mixture of bravado, seriousness, jocularity and defiance.
Maduro, who was not handcuffed but constrained by ankle shackles, looked forward, toward the jury box, as he walked into court. Before sitting down, Maduro told the public gallery “Happy new year!” in English.
His wife, Cilia Flores, followed shortly after, and she had two large Band-Aids on her face; on the temple and forehead.
Maduro was dressed in a blue shirt on top of a neon orange shirt, in khaki pants, and Flores’s jailhouse clothing reflected a similar color scheme.
Maduro and Flores were present for their arraignment in a narco-terrorism case brought by Donald Trump’s Justice Department.
They both put on headphones, as they were provided live English-to-Spanish translation of the proceedings.
Maduro sometimes glanced down at his indictment and, at various points, scribbled on notebook paper.
Hellerstein made a joke about being short, and how “modern electronic equipment hides the judge”.
Proceedings started in earnest with an exchange of greetings that did little to hint at the enormous significance of the events playing out in the room.
“Good morning, Mr Maduro,” Hellerstein said. Maduro gestured in response.
As Hellerstein summed up the charges in this indictment, Maduro could be seen shaking his head slightly, as if in disagreement with the allegations. Hellerstein asked him to confirm his name, as is routine at these proceedings.
Maduro said: “I am Nicolás Maduro Moros” and then launched into a diatribe about his political position, insisting that he was president of the constitutional Republic of Venezuela.
“I am here, kidnapped since 3 January,” he said. “I was captured in my home.”
Hellerstein told Maduro that there would be a time and a place to make these arguments. He asked again: “Are you Nicolás Maduro Moros?”
“I am Nicolás Maduro Moros,” he said again. Maduro said he had the charging papers in his hand for “the first time” and did not need them read in court, as he wanted to do that on his own.
Maduro’s demeanor while standing could be described as subtly defiant. Sometimes Maduro rested his knuckles on the table.
For a few moments, Maduro’s hands were clasped as if in prayer, but with his index fingers pointing forward, in Hellerstein’s direction.
He entered a fulsome not guilty plea shortly thereafter – voicing both a soy inocente and a no soy culpable.
After Maduro sat down, the beleaguered leader’s defense attorney made a mouth with his hand and shook his head.
This was an apparent warning from his lawyer. Maduro needed to keep his diatribes to himself.
Then came Flores. She described herself as the First Lady of Venezuela.
No culpable, she said, completamente inocente. “Not guilty, completely inocente.”
At one point not long after, Maduro had yet another thing to say in court. “I would like to make a request, your honor,” he said.
Maduro did not want anyone taking his notes away, as he wanted them. “Can I have my notes?”
The prosecution said he would work with jail officials to make sure he has his notebooks.
Neither Maduro nor his wife requested bail at this point, but reserved the right to request pre-trial release at a later time. He and his wife’s attorneys did request medical care for them.
Flores’s attorney said that during “her abduction” she suffered “multiple” injuries, including a potential rib fracture.
Hellerstein scheduled a conference in the case for 17 March.
When Maduro got up to exit, he tucked a pen into his notepad. A US marshal noticed and took the pen from him.
Someone from the audience shouted out – accusing Maduro of being an illegitimate President.
As Maduro stepped through the door into a hallway, he insisted: “I’m a kidnapped president – a prisoner of war!”
Chants Outside Courtroom
As Maduro pleaded not guilty to drug and weapons charges at the Manhattan federal court, a man of Venezuelan descent, Alejandro Flores joined other Venezuelans in chants that celebrated the detention of the former Latin American dictator.
Flores, a 34-year-old from Caracas, said he was lucky enough to migrate to the US to pursue an education more than a decade ago, but left behind family relatives who struggled economically.
Some of them live today in buildings affected by the US attack that ultimately led to Maduro’s detention, Flores said.
“The fact that Maduro is in court means justice is being served. He is the reason Venezuela saw millions of people leaving their country, looking for something to eat,” said Flores, who now lives in Brooklyn.
“I want to see my country free, I want my Colombian wife to visit my country, I want to have the opportunity to celebrate with my family that still lives there, but if you ask me if Venezuela is free, the answer is: not yet. Venezuelans need to decide who they want as president.”
In a related development, the Swiss Federal Government has announced that Switzerland has frozen any “Swiss-based assets linked to Nicolás Maduro.”
In a statement, Swiss authorities said that the Swiss Federal Council had decided to freeze the assets held in Switzerland by Maduro and “other persons associated with him with immediate effect.”
“In doing so, the Federal Council aims to prevent an outflow of assets” they said. “The asset freeze does not affect members of the current Venezuelan government.”
“Should future legal proceedings reveal that the funds were illicitly acquired, Switzerland will endeavour to ensure that they benefit the Venezuelan people,” the statement continued.
At the United Nations (UN) Security Council meeting earlier today, Venezuela’s Ambassador to the UN, Samuel Moncada, described the US action in Venezuela as an “illegitimate armed attack lacking any legal justification.”
Moncada added that “no state can set itself up as a judge, party and executor of the world order … Venezuela is the victim of this attack because of its natural resources.”
