Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro told a US court that he is innocent and considers himself a prisoner of war. America has captured him and brought him to New York for trial on drug-related terrorism charges. On Monday (January 5, 2026), he was presented in the court for the first time amid tight security. During the hearing, he said through a translator, ‘I am a kidnapped president. I am a prisoner of war.

In a precise military operation on Saturday morning, US Delta Force soldiers detained Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores from a military base in Venezuela and brought them to New York by air. This hearing held in the court was formal. During this, both Maduro and his wife rejected all the allegations made in the 25-page charge sheet and declared themselves innocent.

Maduro said, ‘I am innocent. I have not committed any crime. I am a decent person and am still the President of my country. Cilia Flores also told the court, ‘I am the First Lady of the Republic of Venezuela.’ When Maduro started talking about his kidnapping, Judge Alvin Hellerstein stopped him and told him that all he had to do was reveal his identity to the court.

Maduro’s lawyer Barry Pollock told the court that he could raise the question of whether the arrest of a country’s president is legal or not, because he should have sovereign immunity, and also how legal is his military capture. At the same time, US President Donald Trump and Foreign Minister Marco Rubio have said that the action to bring Maduro was a process of law enforcement, not a war.

Maduro and Flores are being held in a federal detention center, whose conditions have been criticized by the judge himself. Maduro, once a strict ruler, now looked like an ordinary prisoner. He was wearing simple clothes and was accompanied by security personnel. When entering the courtroom, Maduro, surrounded by US marshals, greeted everyone in Spanish with “Buenos Dias”, meaning good day.

Cilia Flores had a bandage on her forehead. His lawyer Mark Donnelly said that he was injured when captured by American forces and some of his ribs may be broken. The main charges against Maduro and Flores include a narco-terrorism conspiracy, allegedly using the Venezuelan military and intelligence agencies to smuggle cocaine into the United States. For this reason, he has been accused of conspiracy to commit drug-related terrorism.

To strengthen these allegations, he has also been accused of possessing a machine gun and dangerous weapons. Apart from this, he is also accused of collaborating with terrorist organizations in Colombia. Some of the charges against Maduro are such that if proven guilty, he could face even the death penalty.

A case of money laundering has also been registered against Maduro for diverting drug proceeds. Cilia Flores has also been accused of taking bribes related to drug trafficking gangs.

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On the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by the US Army, Pakistani experts have said that even China and Russia could not save him. Referring to US President Donald Trump, he said that if there is power, it is like this. He said that Maduro was meeting the Chinese earlier, but they could not save him.

Expressing surprise at Trump’s action, Qamar Cheema said, ‘You should understand a little about how life is meaningless… what Trump has done. If you have power then be like this. People talk about a multi-polar world, there is no multi-polar world, there is only a uni-polar world. He said, ‘Where are the Chinese President and the Russian President? Who can save? Maduro was getting help from the Chinese earlier, but when the American army captured him, the Chinese could not save him. A very different type of order has come before us.

Qamar Cheema said that Nicolas Maduro was in power in Venezuela since 2013. Before this, Hugo Chavez was in power since 2001 and these people have been in power for 25 years. He said that oil nationalization had taken place inside Venezuela. That means all the resources had come to the government. Because of this, many things were happening. Americans had been saying for a long time that the Venezuelan government used to operate with narco-terrorist organizations.

Qamar Cheema said, ‘Americans have a great love for oil. When Mr. Trump came, he named the drill Baby Drill. Sara Palen used to be one, she basically called it drill baby drill in 2018 and she said that we need to do domestic oil and gas drilling. The second thing is that ever since Trump came to power, he has done some things. First of all he highlighted this thing, he changed the name of Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America. Then he said that Canada is ours, Greenland is ours, then he said that we have to Make America Great Again. Understand what kind of temperament they have. Qamar Cheema said that whatever Trump has done, he has shaken everything including international law. We don’t believe in this thing.

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