NEW YORK: A defiant Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges in a New York court on Monday, two days after being snatched by US forces in a stunning raid on his home in Caracas. Maduro, 63, told a federal judge in Manhattan “I’m innocent. I’m not guilty.” Smiling as he entered the courtroom and wearing an orange shirt with beige trousers, Maduro spoke softly. “I’m president of the Republic of Venezuela and I’m here kidnapped since January 3, Saturday,” Maduro told the court, speaking in Spanish through an interpreter.

Nicolás Maduro is expected to make an initial appearance in Manhattan federal court on Monday, according to officials

Indictment accuses Venezuelan president of running a ‘corrupt’ government fuelled by a drug-trafficking operation that flooded US with cocaine