Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Appears in U.S. Federal Court

0:01Today on State of the World, the U.S. seizes Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Celia Flores during a weekend attack on the country.

0:17You're listening to State of the World from NPR, the day's most vital international stories, up close where they're happening. It's Monday, December 5th. I'm Christine Arismeth. In the aftermath of Maduro's capture, President Trump said in a weekend address that the U.S. will, quote, run Venezuela. Maduro's vice president has been sworn in as interim president. After his capture, American military forces brought Maduro to the United States. Today, he and his wife appeared in a federal courtroom in New York City. They were brought before a U.S. judge to face multiple charges, including allegedly facilitating cocaine trafficking into the United States.

1:00In a stunning courtroom scene, Maduro and his wife both wore prison uniforms. Both entered pleas of not guilty. NPR's Carrie Kahn spoke to Juana Summers on All Things Considered.

1:38I am a decent man, the president of my country. The former first lady also said, too, she was not guilty. And she had a bandage on her forehead. And what reporters in the courtroom were describing as bruising over one eye, her lawyer, says she was injured during the U.S. Special Forces raid on their home in Caracas Saturday when they were both captured. And Carrie, what have you been hearing from Venezuelans at home watching this, seeing their former leader in court and prison guard? State TV has not showed any of these images of Maduro in custody. Nothing. There was very little about the court appearance, just shots of the group of supporters in front of the courthouse in New York.

2:15Nothing of the other protesters there also celebrating his capture. Plenty of Venezuelans, though, have social media and they can see these images. But on the streets, the mood is still very subdued. Talking with people, many are still in shock over the U.S. attack. Public transportation, though, is back up and running. and some people have returned to jobs, but plenty of shops and churches and schools are still closed. And officials in Venezuela, what have they had to say? This was the first day of the new National Assembly for the year, and members were sworn in, including Maduro's son. He's known as Nicolacito, or the prince.

2:50He gave an emotional, defiant speech pledging support to the acting leader, Delci Rodriguez. Here he is. La patria está en buenas manos, papá. Y pronto nos vamos a abrazar aquí en Venezuela. The homeland is in good hands, Papa, and we will hug each other soon here in Venezuela, he told everybody, holding back tears. And just to note, Nicolas Maduro Jr. is also listed as a defendant on the U.S. indictment against his father and stepmother. And then later, Delce Rodriguez was actually sworn in as what they're calling the acting or interim president. She was sworn in by her brother, who is the longtime head of the assembly, and here she is.

3:32She pledged to bring Venezuela out of these terrible times that she says is threatening the stability and peace of our country. She really has toned down her rhetoric, though, since President Trump threatened her directly if she didn't come in line with U.S. demands. And so clearly what we saw today, though, was the old guard is still in charge of Venezuela. There has been no big shakeup after the U.S. attack. No big shakeup. OK, so where is the opposition during all of this? What have you been hearing? We have already heard reports today that there's a crackdown on journalists in the country.

4:02A union of independent journalists said that there were seven arrests this afternoon around that National Assembly meeting. One opposition lawmaker stood up during the assembly swearing in and demanded release of all political prisoners. From abroad, we did here last night in a video statement from Edmundo Gonzalez, who's widely believed to have beaten Maduro in the 2024 presidential election. He called himself the president and demanded also a release of political prisoners. That's NPR's South America correspondent, Carrie Kahn, speaking to Juana Summers on All Things Considered. The U.S. raid that captured Venezuelan President Maduro over the weekend brought to an end his nearly 13 years in power.

4:44As John Otis reports, Maduro was an accidental president who led Venezuela into disaster. Para todos y para todas, lo juro. That's Nicolás Maduro being sworn in as president in 2013 following the death of Hugo Chávez, the founder of Venezuela's socialist revolution. Maduro had been Chávez's vice president and closest advisor. Maduro is a very outgoing guy. He makes jokes all the time. That's Andres Isara, who served for two years as Maduro's tourism minister. But he notes that Maduro lacked Chávez's leadership skills and that, to maintain power, he became more authoritarian. Maduro even joked about his resemblance to one of the world's most notorious dictators.

5:38Sometimes when I look in the mirror, I see Stalin, he quipped in this 2017 broadcast. Maduro had previously worked as a bus driver and union activist before jumping into politics. He had no formal training in economics, and it quickly showed, says John Polga Hikimovich, a Venezuela scholar at the U.S. Naval Academy. He's someone who oversaw the complete destruction of the economy. Under Maduro, government corruption and mismanagement, followed by U.S. sanctions, caused Venezuela's vital oil industry to collapse. That drove up poverty and led to widespread food shortages. The government printed more money, but that spurred hyperinflation.

6:22Eventually, one quarter of the Venezuelan population fled the country in what's considered the largest exodus in modern Latin American history. Many of those who stayed behind took to the streets in protest. But Maduro responded with massive military crackdowns. Opponents were jailed and sometimes tortured. The International Criminal Court opened an investigation against the Maduro regime for crimes against humanity. He stayed in power in part through fraud-marred elections.

6:59Here's Maduro claiming victory in the 2024 presidential election, despite widespread evidence that the opposition won by an overwhelming margin. Javier Corrales, a Venezuela expert at Amherst College, says Maduro also gave massive perks to the military, promoted businesses loyal to his government, and used a shadow fleet of tankers to skirt U.S. oil sanctions. The survival of Maduro and the skills that he deployed in order to stay in office will be studied, I think, in years to come. But in his second term, President Trump turned up the pressure. He accused Maduro of drug trafficking and of stealing U.S.

7:44oil assets. He sent warships to the Caribbean and warned Maduro to step down or face the consequences. Yet in some of his last public appearances, Maduro joked and sang along to John Lennon's Imagine in garbled English. Imagine us people.

8:08In the end, Isara, the former tourism minister who broke with Maduro 10 years ago, says Maduro may have been betrayed by someone on the inside, paving the way for the dramatic overnight snatch operation. He now has only scorn for his former boss. What is his legacy? We have become an American protectorate, thanks to Maduro. We are the new Puerto Rico. Trump now says that the U.S. is in charge, and he has warned to interim president Delcey Rodriguez that if she doesn't cooperate, she'll face a fate worse than Maduro's. For NPR News, I'm John Otis.

8:54That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.