Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was kidnapped from Caracas along with First Lady Cilia Flores, is scheduled to appear in court in the US soon.
The couple was abducted on Saturday, and they were flown by helicopter to a US warship before being tried in New York on charges of multiple US crimes.
What Maduro’s accusations are exactly what the US is making you believe?
Where did Maduro and his wife stand in court?
Prior to Christmas Day, December 25, the indictment was filed under seal in the Southern District of New York.
The document, which was leaked on Saturday, accuses the Venezuelan president of running a “corrupt, illegitimate government” led by a massive drug-trafficking operation that flooded the US with thousands of tonnes of cocaine.
Maduro is accused along with his wife, his son, and three others in the indictment.
In 2020, during the first term of US President Donald Trump, he was charged with the same crimes as an earlier indictment against him in Manhattan federal court.
What fees are there?
The main accusations brought against Maduro and the associates he is accused of are related to “narco-terrorism” and cocaine-import plots. Under US law, the offenses have potential maximum life sentences.
The indictment lists four “narco-terrorism” conspiracy counts: cocaine importation conspiracy, machine gun possession and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
According to the US officials, Maduro and others collaborate with Colombia and Mexico’s top drug trafficking organizations.
Venezuela is not one of the top countries for producing drugs, according to US data.
Trump has made the claim that Maduro is responsible for the “Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO)” gang known as the Tren de Aragua gang.
However, US intelligence officials have stated that there is no proof that Maduro has ties to Tren de Aragua.
What allegations exist against Maduro?
The US law enforcement’s investigation into Venezuela’s decades-long involvement in the cocaine trade is the subject of the indictment.
The introduction to the indictment states that “for over 25 years, Venezuelan leaders have abused their positions of public trust and corrupted once-legitimate institutions to import tons of cocaine into the United States.”
According to the report, Maduro claimed he was “at the forefront of that corruption” and that he intended to “transport thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States.”
According to the indictment, “Maduro] allows cocaine-fueled corruption to flourish for his own gain, for the benefit of members of his ruling regime, and for the benefit of his family members.”
Additionally, the document claims that Maduro “facilitated diplomatic cover for planes used by money launderers to repatriate drug proceeds from Mexico to Venezuela” and “provided Venezuelan diplomatic passports to drug traffickers”.
Read the entire indictment’s text here.
The others are accused of who?
Additionally, five additional people have been charged in the indictment.
They are identified as crucial to the US prosecutors’ corruption case, including Maduro’s wife Flores and son Nicolas Maduro Guerra.
The indictment also includes charges against former Interior Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin and current interior minister Diosdado Cabello.
Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, who is frequently referred to as Nino Guerrero, is also accused.
In the Saturday raid, Maduro and his wife were the only people who the US forces took.
The US claimed in the indictment that Flores had ordered kidnappings, beatings, and murders “against those who owed them drug money or otherwise harmed their drug trafficking operation.”
What have US officials said about Maduro’s disappearance?
In a post on X on Saturday, US Attorney General Pam Bondi stated that Maduro and his wife “will soon face the full wrath of American justice in American courts.”
The military’s abduction of Maduro was carried out on behalf of the US Department of Justice, according to joint chiefs of state chairman Dan Caine and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Source: Aljazeera
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