Nicolas Maduro has spoken out for the first time following his arrest after the United States intervened in Venezuela and took the president into custody.
On Saturday (January 3), Donald Trump announced that the U.S. had conducted a raid in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, early in the morning, resulting in the capture of the nation’s president, Nicolas Maduro, along with his wife, Cilia Flores.
The event was unexpected by much of the world, prompting Trump to hold an extensive press conference later that day to provide additional information.
During the press conference, Trump stated: “We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.
“We don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years, so we are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”
He further commented that Maduro and his wife would be subject to the full extent of U.S. justice. Earlier that day, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a statement echoing these sentiments.
In her statement, she detailed the charges that Maduro is facing.
Bondi revealed that Maduro has been charged with ‘Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States’.
Additionally, a video has emerged online showing Maduro being led into DEA headquarters in New York.
As he is escorted, cameras capture him making a brief but unexpected three-word statement.