Maduro and his wife were extracted from Venezuela by U.S. forces. Venezuelans around the world have celebrated his capture.
After a military strike early Saturday morning, President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were extracted from Venezuela in an escalation of President Trump’s actions against Venezuela’s role in coordinating with drug cartels to send illicit substances to the United States.
Maduro will now face charges in a New York federal court for drug trafficking and conspiring with terrorists.
“They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement about Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
U.S. prosecutors will accuse Maduro of being the head of the Cartel of the Suns, an organization of senior generals and officials who allegedly took millions of dollars in bribes from Colombian guerrilla leaders over more than two decades.
The guerrillas allegedly financed their war against the Colombian government by shipping thousands of tons of cocaine through Venezuela to the United States and Europe, according to prosecutors.
The indictment alleges that Maduro ran a cocaine trafficking enterprise that “enriched and entrenched Venezuela’s political and military elite.”
The four-count indictment names Maduro’s wife, son, and other senior government officials as the six defendants. They are charged with drug and gun offenses, and stand accused of engaging in a narco-terrorism conspiracy by collaborating with drug traffickers that the United States considers foreign terrorist organizations.
“The cycle of narcotics-based corruption lines the pockets of Venezuelan officials and their families while also benefiting violent narco-terrorists who operate with impunity on Venezuelan soil and who help produce, protect, and transport tons of cocaine to the United States,” says the indictment.
Prosecutors allege that under the late Hugo Chávez, Maduro’s predecessor, Caracas “prioritized using cocaine as a weapon against America.”
The military strike and extraction of Maduro from Venezuela come shortly after President Trump authorized strikes on vessels carrying illicit substances in the Caribbean.
Around the world, Venezuelans have reacted in celebration over Maduro’s capture by United States forces.
Venezuelan Americans in South Florida took to the streets to celebrate the capture of Maduro, blaring music and honking car horns.
South Florida is home to the largest Venezuelan community in the United States, with a vast majority of them in opposition to Maduro’s rule. Millions fled Venezuela in recent years due to economic pain and political repression.
“I can’t believe it. I have so many emotions. I feel like throwing up. I feel joy,” said Mariannys Milano, 45, in a recent interview in Doral.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen. But this is the beginning,” said Tibisay Mejía, 51, who immigrated to the United States in 2015.
“We’ve been waiting for this for so many years,” said Alejandra Arrieta, 55, another resident of Doral.
In Latin America and in Spain, people broke out in chants on the street celebrating Maduro’s capture.
“We are free. We are all happy that the dictatorship has fallen and that we have a free country,” said Khaty Yanez, a Venezuelan woman who has lived in Chile for the past seven years.
Millions of Venezuelans around the world took to the streets to celebrate the capture of Maduro and the fall of his communist regime. According to data, some 7.7 million Venezuelans or 20% of the country’s population have left the country to seek better conditions abroad.
