Deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro pleaded not guilty to narcoterrorism and weapons charges on Monday, in his first court appearance since being forcibly removed from power and extradited to the United States over the weekend.
Both Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, appeared in a New York City courtroom for their respective plea hearings. They maintained their innocence of all charges leveled against them. Maduro, who has led Venezuela since 2013, also asserted that he is still the rightful leader of the South American nation.
“I’m innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the president of my country,” Maduro said.
Tensions between the United States and Venezuela had been rising for months prior to the coup orchestrated by the Trump administration over the weekend. The president had overseen a campaign of attacks on boats in the Caribbean that culminated in the seizure of Venezuelan oil tankers and a blockade of the country. Maduro responded to these attacks with mocking videos of himself dancing and refusing to be sucked into a war.
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The videos reportedly infuriated Trump, who had floated Maduro an offer of exile in Turkey. Speaking to the press after Maduro’s surprise arrest, Trump cited former president Hugo Chavez’s nationalization of Venezuelan oil fields as a key factor in the decision to overthrow Maduro.
“The oil companies are going to go in and rebuild their system,” Trump said on Sunday. “It was the greatest theft in the history of America. Nobody has ever stolen our property like they have. They took our oil away from us. They took the infrastructure away and all that infrastructure is rotted and decayed, and the oil companies are going to go in and rebuild it.”
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