Venezuela’s ousted leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife Celia Flores, who were captured in a US operation, are due to make their first appearance in federal court in New York on 5 January. There they will be formally informed of the charges against them.
Earlier, a federal judge released an indictment charging Maduro, his wife and four others with four counts, including “narco-terrorism” and conspiracy to import cocaine.
If convicted, they face sentences ranging from decades to life in prison.
US President Donald Trump told reporters on 4 January that he may order another strike if Venezuela does not cooperate with the United States.
Trump also threatened military action in Colombia and Mexico and said Cuba’s communist regime “looks ready to collapse.”
“I don’t know how, if at all, they’re going to stay afloat, but Cuba has no income right now. They got all their income from Venezuela, from Venezuelan oil,” Trump said aboard Air Force One on his way back to Washington from Florida.
In an interview with The Atlantic, the American president also threatened Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodriguez, saying that “if she doesn’t do the right thing, she will have to pay a very high price, probably higher than Maduro.”
Rodriguez issued an appeal to Trump, saying Venezuelans “deserve peace, not war.” She said “building a balanced and respectful international relationship between the U.S. and Venezuela” is a priority.
“We invite the U.S. government to work together on a programme of cooperation focused on common development, within the framework of international law and to strengthen lasting coexistence in the community,” Rodriguez said.
On the night of 3 January, US troops struck military installations in Venezuela’s capital Caracas and captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Celia Flores. US authorities do not consider Maduro to be the legitimate president of Venezuela and accuse him and Flores of conspiring to engage in “narco-terrorism,” importing cocaine, and storing weapons and explosive devices for use against the US.
On the evening of January 3, they were taken to a detention centre in Brooklyn.