Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, last appeared in court in January, shortly after their capture in a U.S. military raid.
by ALEXX ALTMAN-DEVILBISS | The National News DeskFile - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks to supporters during an event at the Miraflores Presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Feb. 4, 2024.
Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will return to a New York courtroom on Thursday to fight his drug trafficking indictment. His lawyers argue the U.S. is violating the deposed leader’s constitutional rights by blocking Venezuelan government funds for his legal defense. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, last appeared in court in January, shortly after their capture in a U.S. military raid. Heto charges of narco-terrorism and declared, "I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country." When U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, 92, asked Maduro to identify himself, he said he had been kidnapped from his home in Caracas.Maduro and his wife, along with at least three other defendants, "partnered with narcotics traffickers and narco-terrorist groups, who dispatched processed cocaine from Venezuela to the United States via transshipment points in the Caribbean and Central America, such as Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico."Meanwhile, political power in Venezuela has shifted in his absence. Delcy Rodriguez has become Venezuela's acting president. She has replaced senior officials, including Maduro’s faithful defense minister and attorney general, reorganized agencies, appointed ambassadors and eliminated tenets of the self-proclaimed socialist movement that has ruled Venezuela for more than two decades., which withdrew from Caracas in March 2019 after Maduro's government demanded staff be removed for recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president. In a court filing last month, Maduro's lawyer, Barry Pollack, said the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers sanctions, flip-flopped on a decision to let Venezuela pay for his legal fees. The office approved the arrangement Jan. 9, he said, but then rescinded it without explanation less than three hours later. In a written declaration filed with the court, Maduro argued that he is “entitled to have the government of Venezuela pay for my legal defense." Prosecutors responded that the U.S. government had authorized Maduro and Flores to use personal funds to pay their legal fees but would not allow them to use funds controlled by Venezuela’s sanctioned government. Maduro said in his declaration that he cannot afford his defense. To qualify for a court-appointed lawyer, he would have to prove he is indigent—setting up a key legal fight that could shape whether the case proceeds.Authorities in Pierce County have seized large quantities of illegal drugs following a lengthy investigation, officials said.Members of the Pierce County SherifA growing number of residents and business owners in D.C.'s Navy Yard say they are fed up with repeated teen takeovers.Mason County deputies arrest suspect in Hoodsport-area double homicide investigation The Mason County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a double homicide tied to a domestic violence incident in the Hoodsport area and arrested the suspect on Wedn
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