Venezuela Maduro
Members of the media set up across the street from Manhattan federal court in preparation for a pre-trial hearing in former Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro's drug trafficking case, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in New York.
As featured on
Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife are in a New York courtroom as they seek to have their drug trafficking indictments thrown out over a geopolitical dispute over legal fees. Maduro’s lawyer argued Thursday that the U.S. is violating the deposed leader’s constitutional rights by blocking Venezuelan government funds from being used to pay his legal costs. The hearing is the first time Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have appeared in court since a January arraignment at which he protested their capture by U.S. military forces. At the time he also declared his innocence and said he is “a decent man, the constitutional president of my country.” Flores has also pleaded not guilty.
