S Jaishankar On India's Concern Over Venezuela Crisis And An Appeal

India is concerned about the recent developments in Venezuela, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said, as the country's deposed president Nicolas Maduro remains in a New York jail after being captured by the US forces. The minister urged all involved parties to prioritise the well-being and safety of the people in Venezuela.

"We are concerned at the developments, but we would really urge all the parties involved to now sit down and sort of come to a position which is in the interest of the well-being and the safety of the people of Venezuela," Jaishankar said at an event in Luxembourg.

India's concern is that the Venezuelan people come out well from the crisis, he underlined.

Read: US To Get 50 Million Barrels Of Oil From Venezuela At Market Price: Trump

"...at the end of the day, that is our concern, that we would want Venezuela, the country with whom over many, many years we've had very good relations, and (its) people to come out well from whatever is the direction of events," Jaishankar added.

The Venezuela crisis emerged from Maduro's capture following sudden strikes in Caracas on January 3 by US forces. The elite Delta Force then dragged the former Venezuelan president and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their bedroom and swiftly flew them north into the US.

The action followed months of ground strike threats by Donald Trump. The US president had accused Nicolas Maduro of running drug cartels and narco-terrorism and has been pressuring the Venezuelan strongman to leave office.

Read: How Delcy Rodriguez Courted Donald Trump And Rose To Power In Venezuela

Maduro and his wife, who are now lodged in a Brooklyn jail, appeared at a Manhattan court yesterday. He remained defiant during his appearance and pleaded not guilty to the federal drug trafficking charges. Declaring himself as "president of my country," he told the court in Spanish that he was "innocent, not guilty, and a decent man."

The court will next hear the couple's case on March 17.

Venezuela's vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, has now assumed the presidency to fill the leadership vacuum at the direction of the country's top court.