Nicolás Maduro to appear in New York court on drugs and weapons charges

Deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro is expected to appear in Manhattan federal court on Monday afternoon on drugs and weapons charges after his controversial capture by US Special Forces this weekend.

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were seized in a shocking pre-dawn raid at a compound on Saturday during an assault on Caracas. At least 40 people, including civilians and Venezuelan military members, died in the attack, the New York Times reported.

Charging papers against Maduro allege that he helmed a “corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking”.

The arrests came after months of US pressure against Maduro, which included attacks on alleged “narco boats”. These boat strikes resulted in at least 110 deaths and some legal experts have questioned whether the strikes are tantamount to war crimes.

In the weeks leading up to this attack, the US also seized sanctioned oil tankers off Venezuela’s coast. Donald Trump established a blockade against other such vessels, further constraining the oil-rich nation’s already flagging economy.

Maduro’s son and three others are also charged in the indictment. Maduro, who was indicted during Trump’s first presidency, faces charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

Trump, who previously vowed to avoid foreign wars, said that the US will control Venezuela for the time being. “We will run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

“We can’t take a chance that someone else takes over Venezuela who doesn’t have the interests of Venezuelans in mind,” he also told reporters, describing the military action as “an assault like people have not seen since world war two”.

Top Democrats condemned Trump’s attack on Venezuela, calling it illegal and contrary to US interests. The US constitution mandates that only Congress has the power to declare war. Presidents must seek approval for military operations from Congress under the 1973 War Powers Resolution.

“They literally lied to our face,” Democratic Connecticut senator Chris Murphy said on Sunday. He was referencing a briefing on Venezuela given to Congress by secretary of state Marco Rubio in December. “The message they sent was that this wasn’t about regime change … They said this is just a counter-narcotics operation.”

Trump also told reporters that the US would take control over Venezuela’s oil industry. “We’re going to have our very large US oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country and we are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so.”

Trump’s plans for administering Venezuela are unclear. American forces do not control Venezuela, and Maduro’s government still seems to be running the country.

Trump has claimed the US would control Venezuela “with a group” and is “designating various people” for leadership roles. The US president also commented that he wasn’t opposed to deploying ground forces there.

“We’re not afraid of boots on the ground if we have to … We had boots on the ground last night at a very high level, actually. We’re not afraid of it. We don’t mind saying it but we’re going to make sure that country is run properly. We’re not doing this in vain.”