Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro made his first public appearance since being captured in his own country and extradited to the US.
Dressed in black sweats, a matching hat, and jail-issued flip-flops, Maduro was seen inside the DEA headquarters in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood yesterday, clutching a water bottle and shuffling past agents.
The world at large is still reeling in shock after the operation to seize Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in Venezuela’s capital of Caracas. In a dramatic raid ordered by the Trump administration, US forces embarked upon a secret mission to extract the couple, before flying them to New York the very same night.
Maduro and Flores were processed at the DEA’s New York office. They were then flown by helicopter to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where hundreds of people had gathered outside in celebration, cheering and chanting as word of the audacious capture spread.
“It’s such a joy to see the dictator fall, but the regime hasn’t fallen yet,” said Ronny Chirinos, a Venezuelan national who moved to New York City from Maracay three years ago to escape Maduro’s rule, according to the New York Post. “I want everything to fall. That there is no one left.”
One clip of Maduro, labeled the “Perp walk,” has gained particular attention. In the video, the former dictator can be seen in handcuffs walking towards processing prior to his transfer to federal lockup.
“Good Night, Happy New Year,” Maduro muttered to agents.
Maduro and his wife are both facing a number of serious charges in the Southern District of New York, including narco-terrorism offenses.
“It was a brilliant operation, actually,” Trump said of the raid from his Mar-A-Lago estate. “A lot of good planning and [a] lot of great, great troops and great people.”
The operation itself has drawn criticism from Trump’s detractors, though the president insists the removal of Maduro was necessary to bring about the end of Venezuelan cartel drug violence.
Trump claimed that gangs sent to the U.S. by President Maduro were “stealing American lives.” He also accused Maduro of emptying “prisons and insane asylums,” and said that he had “sent everybody bad into the United States.”
As per the latest information, Venezuela will now be under U.S. control until it can assure a “judicial handover of power.”
What do you make of extradition of Maduro and his wife? Let us know in the comments box.
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