Nicolas Maduro locked up in Brooklyn!
New York, Jan 3 (EFE).-
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was transferred on Saturday to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after arriving in Manhattan, according to local media reports.
Maduro was then taken to the federal detention center linked to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), according to The New York Times and CNN.
Moreover, the White House rapid response released a video on Saturday that appeared to show his arrest and transfer.
The video posted by Rapid Response 47 on social media platform X showed Maduro wearing a black hoodie, walking down a hallway with a blue carpet bearing the inscription “DEA NYD.”
The Venezuelan president descended on Saturday from the Boeing 757 in New York in the US, amid an extensive security operation.
Maduro arrived at Stewart Air National Guard Base, a military airport in northern New York, where dozens of agents from various federal agencies, such as the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration, were waiting for him in sub-zero temperatures.
The Southern District of New York Attorney’s Office formally charged Maduro in 2020. On Saturday, the same court made public a superseding indictment reiterating charges of narcoterrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, and offenses related to automatic weapons.
Federal Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, who has been supervising the case since its opening in 2020, made the indictment public.
The original indictment, based on a DEA investigation, identified Maduro as the leader of the “Cartel de los Soles,” a network of high-ranking Venezuelan military officials who sought to enrich themselves by using cocaine as a weapon against the US.
The next step in the case is expected to take place before a Manhattan judge in the coming days.
Maduro was captured at the presidential residence in Miraflores, Caracas, along with his wife, Cilia Flores, who was also transferred to New York on the same plane.
Maduro and Flores are required to appear in court on charges related to narcoterrorism and cocaine trafficking. EFE
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