Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife are set to appear in a New York court on Monday to face drug-trafficking charges two days after their dramatic capture by U.S. forces in their home country.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been held since they were taken from Venezuela after a U.S. strike on the country at the orders of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, whose office is prosecuting the couple, during an interview Monday morning on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” said, “From the perspective of where I sit, my people and I are completely comfortable with this prosecution.”
Maduro is charged in a federal indictment with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. Flores is charged with the cocaine conspiracy and weapons counts.
Maduro, whom the indictment refers to as the “illegitimate ruler” of Venezuela as a result of fraudulent election results, is accused of partnering with co-conspirators, narcotics traffickers, and narco-terrorist groups to import tons of cocaine into the United States.
