Nicolas Maduro, the dethroned Venezuelan dictator indicted on major drug trafficking and weapons charges in the United States, was transferred to federal court in New York Monday for his arraignment, days after American forces captured him in his own presidential palace.
Footage showed federal authorities transferring a handcuffed Maduro from a helicopter to an armored truck ahead of his Monday court appearance.
The hearing, in which Maduro will be formally told the charges against him, is set for noon ET. His wife, Cilia Flores, was arrested in the raid and is also due in court. Like her husband, she was a high-level official in Venezuela’s socialist regime.
Maduro faces four charges: narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
“For over 25 years, leaders of Venezuela have abused their positions of public trust and corrupted once-legitimate institutions to import tons of cocaine into the United States,” federal prosecutors wrote in a superseding indictment unveiled over the weekend.
Flores faces three: cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
Similar proceedings are usually short. There won’t be any witness testimony, the defendants will have a chance to enter their pleas, and the judge will set the next court date and address the subject of pretrial release.
Bail is highly unlikely, according to legal experts.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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One Response
Can someone explain me the ‘possession machine guns’ charge. In all seriousness what the hell is it the US’s business that Maduro possesses (possessed I should say) machine guns!!