Maduro and Wife to Face US Court After Military Kidnapping
Reporter
January 5, 2026 | 07:52 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is scheduled to appear in a federal court in New York on Monday, January 5, 2026, at 12:00 local time, after being kidnapped in a US military operation over the weekend, as reported by Anadolu.
Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores, is also scheduled to appear in the same court, according to a spokesperson for the United States (US) District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Maduro and Flores arrived in New York on Saturday night and are currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn.
Both are facing US federal charges related to allegations of drug trafficking and collaboration with groups designated as terrorist organizations.
Maduro has denied all the allegations. Meanwhile, several officials in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, as well as Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the Chinese government, have called for the release of the couple.
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez condemned the United States' move to kidnap leader Nicolas Maduro as a "cowardly kidnapping." As reported by Al Jazeera, he also added that several presidential guards were killed "in cold blood", as were military personnel and civilians on the Venezuelan side.
In a televised statement on Sunday, Padrino Lopez also supported the Supreme Court's decision to appoint Vice President Delcy Rodriguez - who also serves as the Minister of Oil - as acting president for 90 days.
US President Donald Trump threatened that Rodriguez would pay a "very big price" if she did not cooperate with Washington.
"If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro," Trump told The Atlantic in a phone interview.
US forces attacked Caracas early Saturday, bombing military targets and kidnapping Maduro and his wife to face federal drug trafficking charges in New York. The Venezuelan president was escorted off the plane at Stewart Air National Guard Base in New York and taken to a prison in Brooklyn.
Read: Concerns Raised Over Legality of Maduro's Seizure
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