I Am Still President’: Maduro and Wife Plead Not Guilty in Manhattan Court

In a scene that would have been unimaginable just weeks ago, deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro stood before a United States federal judge on Monday, January 5, 2026, to answer to a litany of narco-terrorism charges. Appearing in a Manhattan courtroom less than 48 hours after his high-profile capture by U.S. special forces in Caracas, the 63-year-old was defiant, repeatedly asserting his innocence through a Spanish interpreter. “I am innocent. I am a decent man. I am still the president of my country,” Maduro declared before being firmly silenced by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who noted that the courtroom was a place for legal pleas, not political speeches.

The morning began with a tightly coordinated security operation that saw Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, transported from a detention center in Brooklyn to the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse. Escorted by federal agents in tactical gear, the couple was flown by helicopter across New York Harbor before being whisked into the courthouse via an armored motorcade. Inside, Maduro appeared in a blue prison uniform and handcuffs, a stark contrast to the presidential sashes and military parades that defined his decade-long rule.

The U.S. Department of Justice has leveled a staggering 25-page indictment against the former leader, accusing him of presiding over the “Cartel of the Suns.” Prosecutors allege that Maduro partnered with the Mexican Sinaloa and Zetas cartels, as well as Colombian FARC rebels and the Tren de Aragua gang, to flood American streets with thousands of tons of cocaine. The charges—which include narco-terrorism conspiracy and the possession of destructive devices—carry a potential sentence of life imprisonment. Maduro has long dismissed these allegations as a “Yankee fabrication” designed to seize Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

Cilia Flores, often referred to as the “First Combatant” in Venezuela, also entered a plea of not guilty to charges of cocaine importation conspiracy. Appearing with a bandage on her forehead and a visible injury near her right eye—reportedly sustained during the chaotic military raid on the presidential compound—she stood silently as her legal team affirmed her innocence. Like her husband, she will remain in federal custody without bail, as the court deemed both to be significant flight risks given their international connections.

The atmosphere outside the courthouse was electric, with hundreds of protesters divided by police barricades. One group sang the Venezuelan national anthem in celebration of the “fall of a dictator,” while another group of supporters decried the U.S. military intervention as an illegal “kidnapping” of a sovereign head of state. This legal battle is expected to be one of the most significant in the history of the Southern District of New York, involving complex arguments over sovereign immunity and the legality of the U.S. operation that brought them to American soil.

Judge Hellerstein, a 92-year-old veteran of the bench, has set the next court date for March 17, 2026. Until then, Maduro and Flores will return to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. While the U.S. administration moves to recognize a transitional government in Caracas, the legal drama in New York has only just begun. As Maduro was led out of the courtroom, he looked toward the gallery and shouted in Spanish, “I am a prisoner of war,” a final act of defiance before the heavy doors of the courtroom swung shut.