Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro appeared in a New York court on Monday, two days after he was whisked away by the United States special forces in a military operation in Caracas.
Images showed an armoured vehicle carrying Maduro and his wife arriving at the courthouse earlier.
Maduro is facing four counts relating to alleged drugs and weapons possession and trafficking.
Cilia Flores, his wife; Ernesto Guerra, Maduro’s son; Diosdado Rondon, minister of interior, justice and peace; Ramon Chachin, former interior minister; and Héctor Flores, leader of Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan transnational crime gang; were named as co-defendants.
According to the indictment, Maduro has being at the “forefront of corruption to use his illegally obtained authority to transport thousands of tons of cocaine” to the US with his alleged coconspirators.
The US alleged that Maduro has “tarnished” every public office he has held and allowed “cocaine-fueled corruption to flourish for his own benefit, for the benefit of members of his ruling regime, and for the benefit of his family members”.
After Maduro’s capture, Stéphane Dujarric, United Nations (UN) spokesperson, issued a statement saying António Guterres, UN secretary-general, was “deeply alarmed’ by the recent escalation in Venezuela.
The statement noted that the military action had potential worrying implications for the region
