Maduro was transported to a Manhattan court for his first appearance on drug trafficking charges

NEW YORK (AP) — Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is scheduled to make his first appearance Monday in a U.S. courtroom on drug-related terrorism charges that the Trump administration used to justify arresting him and bringing him to New York.

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Maduro and his wife are expected to appear at noon before a judge for a short, but required, legal process, likely beginning a long legal battle over whether he can be put on trial in the United States.

The couple were transferred under armed guard early Monday from the Brooklyn jail where they were being held to a Manhattan court.

The trip was fast. A convoy carrying Maduro left the prison around 7:15 a.m. and headed to a nearby sports stadium, where Maduro slowly made his way to a waiting helicopter. The helicopter flew across New York Harbor and landed at a Manhattan helipad, where Maduro was loaded limping into an armored vehicle.

A few minutes later, the law enforcement convoy was inside a garage in the courthouse complex, not far from where Donald Trump was convicted in 2024 of falsifying business records.

As a criminal defendant in the US legal system, Maduro would have the same rights as anyone else accused of a crime — including the right to a trial before a jury of ordinary New Yorkers. But it will also be almost, but not quite, unique.

Maduro’s lawyers are expected to challenge the legality of his detention, arguing that he enjoys immunity from prosecution as a sovereign head of state.

Panamanian strongman Manuel Norrigaon successfully tried the same defense after the US arrested him in a similar military invasion in 1990. But the US does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela – especially after his highly controversial re-election in 2024.

Venezuela’s new interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, has called on the United States to return Maduro, who has long denied any involvement in drug trafficking — though late Sunday she struck a more conciliatory tone in a social media post, calling for cooperation with President Trump and establishing “respectful relations” with the United States.

Before his arrest, Maduro and his allies claimed that US hostility was motivated by a desire to gain access to Venezuela’s rich oil and mineral resources.

The United States detained Maduro and his wife in a military operation on Saturday, and arrested them at their home on a military base. Trump said that the United States would “run” Venezuela temporarily, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that it would not rule the country day to day except to enforce the existing “oil quarantine.”

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Trump indicated on Sunday that he wants to further expand American power in the Western Hemisphere.

Speaking aboard Air Force One, Colombian President Gustavo Petro described him as “a sick man who likes to make cocaine and sell it to the United States. He’s not going to do it for long.”

Rodriguez called on Venezuela to provide “full access” to her country, otherwise she will face the consequences.

A 25-page indictment unsealed Saturday accuses Maduro and others of working with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States, and they could face life in prison if convicted.

It was not clear as of Sunday whether Maduro had yet appointed a U.S. attorney.

He and his wife, Celia Flores, have been under US sanctions for years, making it illegal for any American to take money from them without first obtaining a license from the Treasury Department.

While the indictment against Maduro says Venezuelan officials worked directly with the Tren de Aragua, a US intelligence assessment published in April, based on input from 18 intelligence agencies, found no coordination between the Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government.

Maduro, his wife and his son – who remains at large – are charged alongside Venezuela’s interior and justice minister, the former interior and justice minister, and Hector Rostenford Guerrero Flores, an alleged leader of the Trinh de Aragua who has been criminally charged in another case and remains at large.

Among other things, the indictment accuses Maduro and his wife of ordering the kidnapping, beatings and killing of those who owed them drug money or undermining a drug trafficking operation. This included the killing of a local drug lord in Caracas, the indictment said.

Maduro’s wife is also accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in 2007 to arrange a meeting between a “large-scale drug trafficker” and the director of Venezuela’s National Narcotics Control Office, resulting in additional monthly bribes, with some of the money going to Maduro’s wife, according to the indictment.

Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas. Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington, Darlene Superville aboard Air Force One and Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report.