Captured Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has arrived at a Manhattan court building following a tightly orchestrated operation to transfer him from prison.
The 63-year-old is due to face charges including narcoterrorism and weapon offences at a Manhattan court later today.
A motorcade including an armoured vehicle carrying the ousted leftist leader was seen leaving the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn early this morning.
Bound in handcuffs and sporting beige clothing with orange trainers, Maduro was filmed from a news helicopter being led from the vehicle into an SUV at dusk.
As day broke he was loaded into a helicopter and flown to the Wall Street Heliport on the southern tip of Manhattan island.
The 6’3 former union leader, who ruled Venezuela with an iron grip for 12 years, looked powerless as he was led by the arms by federal agents away from the helicopter after it landed.
Surrounded by armed police officers and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agents, he was loaded into another armoured motorcade which dropped him off at the court shortly before 8am local time.
Maduro appeared to be limping slightly, fuelling speculation that he was injured during Saturday’s operation to capture him by US troops.
The speculation began when footage emerged of him on Sunday wincing and limping when he was brought into prison.
He had appeared to grimace and groan in pain before hopping slightly on one foot as an officer helped him out of an armoured car.
Donald Trump, who ordered Maduro’s capture along with a barrage of airstrikes on military buildings in and around Caracas, previously claimed Maduro attempted to escape his capture.
The US president said the Venezuelan leader ‘tried to get to a safe place’ but ‘couldn’t reach the door because our men were too fast’.
Court documents accuse Maduro of overseeing a ‘corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking’.
Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, is due to appear alongside her husband as a defendant against the charges.
She was seen being led to court alongside her husband, wearing similar clothing.
The pair are due to appear before a judge at the Daniel Patrick Manhattan United States Courthouse imminently.
The hearing is expected to deal mostly with administrative matters, as with any initial hearing at criminal trials.
Legal experts say Maduro will take his earliest opportunity to claim immunity as a head of state, but this is likely to come at a later date.
Former New York prosecutor Andrew Weissman has said the US government is likely to argue Maduro is not a legitimate head of state.
Meanwhile, the new interim president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, is due to be sworn before Venezuelan lawmakers today.
The country’s vice president since 2018, she was designated for leadershipby the Supreme Court this weekend.
