US prosecutors accuse Maduro of using the power of the Venezuelan state to protect and promote illegal drug smuggling.
A US judge on Wednesday set a date for Venezuelan former President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, to go on trial in New York, where they will face charges of drug trafficking.
The two have been detained since early January, when US forces entered Venezuela and seized them from their Caracas home.
The unprecedented middle-of-the-night raid was hailed by US President Donald Trump as a "surgical law enforcement operation" in a criminal case, which had been brought against the couple six years ago.
Maduro has maintained his innocence, calling himself a prisoner of war and referring to his capture as a kidnapping.
