Maduro and his wife will appear on Monday before a federal court in New York

New York.- The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, will appear tomorrow, Monday, before a federal court in New York in what will be their first hearing in the U.S. after their capture and transfer to the country, judicial sources confirmed to EFE this Sunday.

According to a spokesperson for the Southern District of New York, both will be brought before Federal Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein in Manhattan at 12:00 local time (17:00 GMT).

Maduro and Flores have been held since Saturday night at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, a high-security federal prison.

The hearing will take place after the US government announced on Saturday the capture of the Venezuelan president in Caracas, in an operation that included air strikes against targets in Venezuela.

What charges does Maduro face in New York?

Maduro is accused in the United States of four federal charges: narco-terrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess those same artifacts in support of criminal activities, as well as collaborating with criminal organizations classified as terrorists by Washington.

The accusations, made in 2020 by the Southern District Attorney's Office of New York and confirmed on Saturday, allege that the Venezuelan president had led for years a network that used drug trafficking as a weapon against the United States.

Cilia Flores, for her part, faces charges linked to alleged operations of logistical and financial support to the same criminal structure, according to court documents cited by US media.

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In similar cases, the accused are usually initially brought before a judge for the formal reading of the charges, verification of their identity, and the definition of preliminary aspects such as preventive detention or the appointment of lawyers. It is likely that both will remain in pre-trial detention without the right to bail while the judicial process advances, The New York Times and CBS News reported today.

A "lawful" mission

For her part, U.S. Attorney General, Pamela Bondi, released this Sunday on X a joint statement with the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) about the operation that allowed the capture of Maduro and his wife, noting that it required months of planning and that it had the objective of "guaranteeing the safe transfer of the accused to the country to face the federal charges against them." The statement emphasizes that all procedures were carried out "in strict accordance with US law" and that the mission supported "an ongoing criminal investigation linked to drug trafficking and related crimes" which, according to Washington, "contribute to violence and the drug crisis in the region". The Attorney General added that "all legal options were explored to resolve the situation peacefully," and attributed responsibility for the outcome to "the persistence in the criminal conduct" of the accused. Maduro arrived in New York on Saturday night aboard a military plane and was transferred to a federal DEA building and then to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, a federal prison that houses those prosecuted for highly complex criminal cases.