The first video of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro arriving in the United States was released on Saturday (local time), showing him handcuffed and escorted by US officials as he stepped off a helicopter at New York’s Stewart Airport.
Hours earlier, Maduro was captured by US forces during a late-night operation in Venezuela. US President Donald Trump had also shared the first image of Maduro in custody, showing him handcuffed and blindfolded aboard a US warship.
After landing in New York, a motorcade believed to be carrying Maduro exited the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) headquarters on Manhattan’s West Side Highway before briefly heading north and then returning to a heliport, according to BBC.
Officials said Maduro and his wife, First Lady Cilia Flores, were flown by helicopter to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Three helicopters were seen travelling down the Hudson River, passing the Statue of Liberty, before landing. From there, the couple were transported to the detention facility in a convoy of law enforcement vehicles.
According to US authorities, Maduro was arrested in Venezuela and flown out of the capital, Caracas, in the early hours of Saturday aboard a US helicopter. He was first taken to the USS Iwo Jima at an undisclosed location in the Caribbean Sea.
From there, he was flown to the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, before being transferred to another aircraft that took him to Stewart Air Force Base in New York State’s Orange County. He was then flown by helicopter into New York City.
In total, Maduro travelled about 2,100 miles (3,300 kilometres) from his capture in Venezuela to his arrival in the United States.
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The charges include conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess such weapons against the US.
US media reports said that the booking process for the couple has already begun. This includes taking fingerprints, biometric data and mugshots, along with medical examinations. Their details will then be entered into the US Customs and Border Protection system.
Maduro and his wife are expected to be formally produced in court, possibly as early as Monday.
Earlier, Trump had shared the first image of Maduro following his capture, posting a photograph of the Venezuelan leader aboard the USS Iwo Jima. “Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Speaking later on Fox and Friends Weekend, Trump said Maduro and Flores were seized during a night-time operation and flown directly to a US warship. He claimed Maduro had been heavily guarded inside a fortified palace and that US forces had rehearsed the operation in advance.
The operation reportedly lasted less than 30 minutes and took place amid explosions in Caracas and other locations. Venezuela’s government condemned the action as a “serious military aggression” and declared a state of emergency, while the US said its forces suffered minimal casualties. Maduro now remains in US custody as legal proceedings move forward in New York.
The White House’s official Rapid Response account later posted a video showing what appeared to be a “perp walk” of the ousted Venezuelan leader at the DEA office in Manhattan.
The video showed Maduro wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and walking handcuffed alongside DEA agents down a blue-carpeted hallway marked “DEA NYD,” according to CNN.
The footage showed Maduro being processed and fingerprinted at the DEA office. As he walked with agents, Maduro appeared to attempt speaking in English.
“Good night,” he said, before correcting himself in Spanish: “Es buenas noches, no?” — meaning, “That is good night, no?”
He then repeated “good night” to those present and added, “Happy New Year”.