NYC: Venezuelan President Maduro and First Lady Flores Face First Hearing in Imperialist Court

Read our editorial on the US imperialist aggression against Venezuela here.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores pleaded not guilty in US federal court January 5 after being abducted by US forces two days prior to face a farcical imperialist trial in Manhattan. The President and First Lady have been indicted on phony narco-terrorism charges and the possession of machine guns. As part of US imperialism’s justifications for imperialist aggression against Venezuela, the ultra-reactionary Trump Administration has claimed that Maduro sits atop a drug cartel that even the US Drug Enforcement Agency has revealed to be a CIA fabrication.

During the hearing on Monday, Maduro and Flores both pleaded not guilty of all charges. An activist inside the courtroom told The Worker that when Maduro was asked to confirm his name, the President instead began a speech stating, “I am a kidnapped president, prisoner of war illegally abducted” before being silenced by the judge.

Flores appeared in the courtroom badly bruised from her abduction, with her lawyer requesting “appropriate attention” while she is held in Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC)—a prison known for its understaffing and torturous conditions. Her defense team also asked she receive an X-ray for a suspected broken rib, an activist inside the courtroom told The Worker.

During the hearing, the defense team called into question the legality of the military abduction of the President and First Lady, stating that there would be “voluminous” pretrial filings.

Their next court date is set for March 17.

The death toll from the US aggression on Venezuela January 3 has reached 80—including military personnel and civilians, according to the Venezuelan government—after the US bombed civilian and military targets in the capital Caracas and several coastal states during the kidnapping of Maduro and Flores.

Across the US and the world, people have rallied against the US invasion and the abductions. Outside the courthouse Monday, dozens of protesters chanted against US intervention with slogans like “US Imperialists, Number One Terrorists”, while far-right activists gathered in support of US imperialist aggression. Protesters in New York City demonstrated outside MDC on Sunday where the President and First Lady are being held, and hundreds of people rallied in Manhattan on Saturday. One protester Saturday told The Worker, in regard to opposing the US imperialist aggression: “We can’t rely on Democratic politicians. We can’t vote this shit out.”

A few miles away from the federal courthouse Monday, an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting was underway discussing the US attacks. During the session, numerous countries condemned the attack as a lawless act of aggression that threatened international stability. Several countries, particularly Western European imperialist powers, legitimized the attack by calling for a “peaceful transition of power” in the aftermath of the imperialist kidnapping and denounced Maduro’s presidency as illegitimate.

The US blockade on Venezuelan oil remains in place, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio stating in an interview with CBS that the blockade provides “a tremendous amount of leverage” for US monopolists to get what they want from the oppressed nation, citing “dramatic interest” from US oil monopolies.

The blockade will remain “until we see changes that do not just further the national interest of the United States, which is number one, but also that lead to a better future for the Venezuelan people,” said the ultra-reactionary Rubio.

The gangster Trump later said on social media, “This is OUR Hemisphere.”

Interim Venezuelan President Sworn In, Trump Ramps Up Threats Against Oppressed Nations

Also on January 5, Maduro’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez was formally sworn in as Interim President of Venezuela. Rodriguez condemned the US assault as an “illegitimate military aggression against our homeland,” while also gesturing at submission to US imperialism, writing in a statement, “We invite the US government to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented towards shared development within the framework of international law to strengthen lasting community coexistence.”

Trump had stated in a press conference following the January 3 invasion that Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Rodriguez over the phone and she had promised to implement the US’s plans of dominating the country—particularly its oil industry—or else be met by further military attacks and occupation.

The gangster head of US imperialism Trump has since made increasingly aggressive remarks to other Latin American countries. “Colombia is very sick, too. Run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States, and he’s not going to be doing it very long,” Trump told reporters in reference to Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro. When asked if the US would carry out a military operation against Colombia, Trump responded, “Sounds good to me.” Of note, the farcical drug charges against Maduro and Flores say they conspired with “FARC dissidents” to ship cocaine to the US—referring to Colombian guerrilla fighters who refused to sign onto the Colombian old-state’s “peace accords” and lay down their weapons.

Trump also stated “We’re going to have to do something” about Mexico, and that “Cuba is ready to fall.”

Trump also threatened to “hit [Iran] very hard” if the Iranian government quells ongoing mass demonstrations in the country, and again reiterated US imperialism’s claim to Greenland with an eye to resources strategic for shoring up the threatened US imperialist hegemony.

Image: Anti-imperialist demonstration in New York City January 3, Devan Spiro.

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