Venezuela US

Venezuelans remain in shock after President Nicolás Maduro was deposed and captured in a U.S. military operation. An anxious quiet has settled over the capital of Caracas, with many stores and churches closed. Maduro is in custody in New York, but his officials remain in power and demand his release. U.S. President Donald Trump has asserted that his administration will run Venezuela. However, Secretary of State Marco Rubio instead has spoken of using control of Venezuela’s oil industry to force policy changes. Meanwhile, the streets are quiet, with fears of government repression and memories of past crackdowns lingering.

When Nicolás Maduro appears in a New York courtroom to face U.S. drug charges, he'll be following a path taken by Panama's Manuel Noriega, another strongman who was toppled by American forces. As was the case with Noriega, lawyers for Maduro are expected to challenge his arrest by claiming sovereign immunity. That's a bedrock principal of international and U.S. law. But legal experts say that argument is unlikely to succeed because the U.S. doesn't recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. They say courts are likely to allow the prosecution to proceed despite broader constitutional questions about the U.S. military action that led to his capture.