Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro was put in a New York jail on Saturday, hours after US forces captured him in a late-night raid and flew him out of the South American country. Maduro's deputy, Delcy Rodriguez, has become the acting president.
Here Are Top 10 Points On Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela:
- The US special forces launched "Operation Absolute Resolve" and conducted pre-dawn raids on the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, on Saturday and captured Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. They were flown to New York to face drug-trafficking charges.
- Maduro and his wife have been charged with "narco-terrorism," importing tons of cocaine into the United States, and possession of illegal weapons.
- The 63-year-old leader has been kept at the Metropolitan Detention Centre, a federal facility in Brooklyn, and is expected to make an initial appearance in Manhattan federal court on Monday.
- Maduro's apparent successor, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, appeared on state television Saturday afternoon with other top officials and called the US action as "kidnapping." "We demand the immediate release of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores," she said, calling Maduro "the only president of Venezuela."
- A Venezuelan court later ordered Rodriguez, 56, to assume the position of interim president.
- US President Donald Trump on Saturday said that he was putting Venezuela under temporary American control. "We will run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition," he told a press 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 said as part of the takeover, major US oil companies would move into Venezuela, which has the world's largest oil reserves, and refurbish badly degraded oil infrastructure.
- Trump had for weeks threatened ground strikes on drug cartels in Venezuela. He had also deployed a huge naval and aerial presence in the Caribbean, including the US' most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, and other warships.
- He accused Maduro of heading a drug cartel and said he is cracking down on trafficking. He also cited illegal migration and the country's oil industry for the aggressive policy toward Venezuela. The US and numerous European governments did not recognise Maduro's legitimacy, saying he stole elections in 2018 and 2024.
- Maduro, in power since 2013 after taking over from leftist mentor Hugo Chavez, has denied any involvement in the narcotics trade, saying the US is seeking to overthrow him because Venezuela has the largest known reserves of oil on Earth.
