Ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife are appearing at Manhattan Federal Court Monday to be arraigned on a narco-terrorism indictment that accuses Maduro and his co-conspirators of transporting “thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States.”
“Since his early days in Venezuelan government, [Maduro] has tarnished every public office he has held,” the indictment reads.
“As a member of Venezuela’s National Assembly, [he’s] moved loads of cocaine under the protection of Venezuelan law enforcement. As Venezuela’s minister of foreign affairs, [he] provided Venezuelan diplomatic passports to drug traffickers and facilitated diplomatic cover for planes used by money launderers to repatriate drug proceeds from Mexico to Venezuela.”
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were grabbed from their presidential palace in Caracas, the South American country’s capital, during a precision military operation. They were transported to New York City late Saturday and brought under heavy guard to Manhattan federal court Monday.
Here’s the full indictment:
