Maduro to face US judge after capture
Deposed Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro is due to make his first appearance in a United States federal court in Manhattan on Monday, two days after he was seized in a U.S. military operation in Caracas and flown to New York. Court officials say the hearing, scheduled for around noon, will be an initial appearance and arraignment on long standing U.S. federal charges. Maduro faces a four count indictment accusing him of leading a 25 year narco terrorism and cocaine trafficking conspiracy that allegedly used Venezuela’s state institutions and security forces to move tons of cocaine into the United States. The charges include conspiracy to commit narco terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, and related weapons offences involving machine guns and explosives. He is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn alongside other high profile inmates while awaiting trial. U.S. […]