VENEZUELA’s deposed president, Nicolas Maduro, is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in New York at noon Monday to be formally notified about the charges against him, the court said.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were seized by US forces during a pre-dawn raid Saturday in Caracas and brought to New York to face charges of “narcoterrorism” tied to the alleged trafficking of tons of cocaine into the United States.
Meanwhile, five Latin American countries and Spain warned on Sunday against any outside bid for “control” of Venezuela, after US President Donald Trump suggested Washington would “run” the country and access its oil.
Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, and Spain in a joint statement expressed their “rejection” of US forces’ ousting of Maduro as Venezuela’s president and “concern about any attempt at governmental control or administration or outside appropriation of natural or strategic resources.”
President Donald Trump threatened on Sunday that Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, would pay a “very big price” if she did not cooperate with the United States, after US forces seized her former boss, Nicolas Maduro.
“If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” Trump told The Atlantic in a brief telephone interview.
The Trump administration said it was willing to work with the rest of Maduro’s government as long as Washington’s goals, including opening access to US investment in the enormous Venezuelan crude oil reserves, are met.
Trump’s warning came as Rodriguez was confirmed as interim president by Venezuela’s Supreme Court and military officials.
She sounded a defiant note Saturday after the US raid on the capital Caracas, saying that Maduro was the country’s sole legitimate leader and that “we’re ready to defend our natural resources”.
Trump has long campaigned against US nation building and regime change in foreign countries.
However, he said Saturday that the United States will “run” Venezuela.
He told The Atlantic that “rebuilding there and regime change — anything you want to call it — is better than what you have right now”.
“Rebuilding is not a bad thing in Venezuela’s case. The country’s gone to hell. It’s a failed country. It’s a totally failed country. It’s a country that’s a disaster in every way,” he said.