Just after noon today, the former president of Venezuela appeared in U.S.
District Court in Lower Manhattan.
He had shackles around his ankles.
He was wearing headphones to translate the proceedings.
Nicolas Maduro and his wife Celia Flores were there to hear the formal reading of the charges against them,
charges that they profited from trafficking drugs to the United States.
Through an interpreter, Maduro and his wife both pleaded not guilty.
They declined to request being released on bail for now.
And Maduro took the opportunity in front of the judge to speak publicly about his capture in Venezuela on Saturday.
He called himself kidnapped.
I am innocent, he said.
I am not guilty.
I am a decent man.
Here in the US, the Trump administration is facing intense criticism over Maduro's capture.
There are questions about why Congress was never notified about the operation and whether the arrest was even legal.
And in Venezuela, Maduro's capture has brought up complicated feelings.
He did have loyal followers, people who believed that he stood up to US imperialism.
But he also left a legacy of repression, violence, and political imprisonment.
for the majority of the people who voted against him in the many elections and those millions who fled and openly talk about him and what he means to them abroad.
I think Maduro's legacy is going to be a very dark one.