Nicolas Maduro, 63, made an appearance in a courthouse in New York two days after being abducted by special forces in Venezuela during an operation in the Latin American nation.
Maduro entered a not-guilty plea on Monday for narcoterrorism and cocaine import conspiracy. He listened to the indictment against him and his co-defendants, including his wife and son, while wearing a blue and orange prison uniform.
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According to the Trump administration, the abduction of Maduro was a law enforcement operation, so it was unnecessary to obtain congressional consent.
However, Maduro insisted that he was a “prisoner of war” (POW) in court.
What was said by Maduro?
“I’m innocent,” I say. I’m not accountable. I’m a decent man. Before being cut off by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan federal court, he claimed through an interpreter that he was still the president of his nation.
In an armed conflict, Maduro referred to himself as a POW, a person held and taken captive by an enemy.
Cilia Flores, Maduro’s wife, entered a not-guilty plea in court on Monday as a defendant.
Other Venezuelan leaders have echoed Maduro’s position. His then-deputy Delcy Rodriguez, who later became Venezuela’s sole legitimate president, and her brother, Jorge Rodriguez, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, and defense minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, made the declaration on state television on Saturday, claiming Maduro was Venezuela’s only legitimate president.
However, she posted a statement on social media offering to work with Trump on the same day Rodriguez took over as Venezuela’s interim president. She urged Trump to “collaborate” and “respectful relations,” according to the statement.
She wrote, “President Donald Trump, our people, and our region, not war,” in honor of this.
We can’t ignore a fundamental component of this US aggression, Samuel Moncada, Venezuela’s ambassador to the UN, said.
According to the UN website, “Venezuela is the victim of these attacks,” Moncada claimed.
What position does the US hold?
The US described the special operation in Caracas on January 3 as a law enforcement one. Maduro was abducted there.
On Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured journalist Kristen Welker of NBC’s Meet the Press that there was no war between the US and Venezuela.
“We are fighting drug-trafficking groups,” he declared. He claimed that there isn’t a war between Venezuela and that.
The US and regional security are threatened by narcotics trafficking and organized crime, according to Michael Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN.
Venezuela or its citizens are not at war, according to the statement. According to the UN website, Waltz stated that “we are not occupying a country.” According to the statement, “This was a law-enforcement operation in support of decades-long legal indictments.”
Rubio’s words, however, contradicted Trump’s assertions.
Trump said at a press conference on Saturday that the US would “run” Venezuela until a “safe, proper, and judicious transition” could be made.
Trump stated to reporters on Sunday that if Venezuelans don’t cooperate with his plan to “resolve” the situation, the US would launch a second military strike.
Marco Rubio is not the president, he claims. According to constitutional law expert Bruce Fein, Trump has unwaveringly stated that the United States and Venezuela are engaged in armed conflict to support more than 100 alleged drug traffickers’ deaths in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific.
The US military launched a string of strikes on alleged narcotics-carrying ships in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific starting in September. At least 30 similar boat bombings have claimed more than 100 lives, but the Trump administration has not yet provided any public proof that the passengers were carrying illegal substances or that they were heading to the US.
Trump would admit to carrying out mass civilian murder if there were no war in the United States.
What purpose does Maduro’s claim to be a prisoner of war have?
If Maduro is actually a POW, he is protected by international law.
Humane treatment, respect, and protection for POWs are mandated by the Third Geneva Convention of 1949.
A POW may be tried and sentenced in another country, particularly the detained power, but only for certain crimes, such as war crimes, per the convention.
However, Maduro has been charged with war crimes rather than narcotics-related crimes.
And generally, according to the Third Geneva Convention, POWs must be returned to their country “without delay” as soon as the conflict is over.
Because Trump claimed Maduro had started the war against the United States through drug trafficking, leading to overdose deaths, “Maduro is a prisoner of war,” according to President Trump. Trump will undoubtedly disregard the Geneva Conventions, Fein said.
What are the opinions of other experts?
In spite of the available evidence, Maduro’s abduction was not justified, according to Susanne Gratius, a professor of political science and international relations at the Autonomous University of Madrid.
They claim that the operation is motivated by domestic drugs, but it is not. They harmed the sovereignty of the country. There is no legal justification for a US military operation to hijack Maduro and his wife, Gratius claimed. He cited Maduro’s refusal to step down from office despite widespread claims that he lost 2024’s contentious elections.
According to her, the US attack allegedly violated Article 2 of the UN Charter, which stipulates that all members are sovereign equals. Unilateral military interventions do not merit regime change or oil access, according to the statement.
According to Ilias Bantekas, a professor of transnational law at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, “the US involvement in Venezuela is less about Maduro than it is about having access to Venezuela’s oil deposits.”
Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, and it has an estimated 303 billion barrels of it as of 2023. Only a small portion of its revenue came from crude exports.
Venezuela exported only $4.05 billion worth of crude oil in 2023, according to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC). Saudi Arabia ($181 billion), the US ($125 billion), and Russia ($122 billion) are among the leading exporters ($122 billion). Venezuelan oil is largely affected by US sanctions.
The number one target is [This]oil[/. Trump doesn’t like to allow US oil companies to obtain concessions, but rather to “run” the nation, which entails absolute and unalterable control over Venezuela’s resources, according to Bantekas.
Experts also point out the months-long military operation the Trump administration conducted against Venezuela before Maduro’s abduction, which also included the bombing of boats, to demonstrate why it is difficult to defend the US attack as a law-and-order operation.
Source: Aljazeera
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