A plane is believed to have brought Maduro and his wife to New York on Saturday night following a US military intervention and his capture in the Venezuelan capital Caracas.
The Venezuelan president is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York. On Monday, he is expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan to face US charges of “narcoterrorism.”
In front of the cameras
A government-linked social media account has posted a short video clip that appears to show Maduro being led through the DEA's facilities in New York.
The Venezuelan, wearing black sweatpants and a cap, is led by several uniformed men in front of clicking cameras in a so-called “perp walk” - a kind of photo opportunity that US authorities have a habit of arranging when they want to show off criminals they have taken into custody.
Maduro asks those accompanying him how to say “buenas noches,” good evening or good night, in English. Then he says “good night” with a smile and wishes them a happy new year.
When Maduro arrived at the Brooklyn detention center, crowds of people had gathered outside, according to American media. Some waved the Venezuelan flag and celebrated.
According to CNN, the conditions inside the detention center have been described as “disgusting.” Several famous people, such as the artist R. Kelly, hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, have been held there.
Cocaine corruption?
The United States accuses Nicolás Maduro of facilitating large-scale shipments of cocaine to the United States. In the indictments that have been made public so far, the president is accused of acting in collusion with several of Latin America's largest drug cartels and allowing them to smuggle huge amounts of cocaine through the country.
"This cycle of drug-based corruption lines the pockets of Venezuelan officials and their families while also benefiting violent narco-terrorists who operate with impunity on Venezuelan soil," the court documents state, according to AP.
The Trump administration and the Justice Department have called it "narco-terrorism" directed at the United States. They have used that label to justify Saturday’s bombings and intervention in Venezuela, where the country’s president was captured and flown out of the country.
