The US announced the charges for which Maduro will be tried. Statements of the Attorney General
The President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, “will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil”, announced the US Attorney General, Pam Bondi, on the X platform on Saturday, according to dpa.
“Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York. Nicolas Maduro has been charged with conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States. They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil, in American courts,” Bondi said.
The US Attorney General thanked, “on behalf of the entire US Department of Justice, (…) President (American Donald) Trump for the courage to demand accountability on behalf of the American people”, but also the US military “courageous who led the incredible and highly successful mission to capture these two alleged international narcotics traffickers”.
For his part, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reposted on the X platform an older post of his in which he said that “Maduro is NOT the president of Venezuela and his regime is NOT the legitimate government. Maduro is the head of the Cartel de los Soles, a narco-terrorist organization that has taken control of the country. And he is being indicted for bringing drugs into the United States.”
US President Donald Trump announced that the United States had “successfully carried out a large-scale attack against Venezuela” on Saturday and said that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife had been captured and taken out of the country.
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In this case, three personalities are to be followed: the vice president Delcy Rodríguez; Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello; and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino.
All three appeared on television hours after the attack, denouncing the US airstrikes.
Both Padrino and Cabello have significant influence within the military, which could remain loyal to either figure.
Rodríguez, on the other hand, has more civil and economic power, but does not have the same access to the ranks of the military as Cabello and Padrino, where the role of the military could be decisive.
Another unknown is what the opposition, led by María Corina Machado, will do. After claiming victory in the July 2024 elections, the opposition is demanding real political change and may not be satisfied with just removing Maduro from the presidential palace.
The Venezuelan Minister of the Interior, Diosdado Cabello, denounced as “criminal and terrorist” the attack carried out by the United States on Saturday morning and urged international organizations to speak out against this “massacre”.
The statements were made on the state channel Venezolana de Television (VTV).
Cabello, surrounded by soldiers, asked for confidence “in the leadership” and “in the leadership of the political and military high command” in the face of the situation the country is going through.
“Remain very calm, don't let anyone despair, don't let anyone make it easy for the invading enemy, the terrorist enemy who attacked us cowardly, don't make it easy for anyone. And at the end of these attacks, we will win. Long live the motherland! Loyal forever! Never traitors,” he declared on public television, promising: “This is not the first battle, this is not the first battle (…), we knew how to survive in all circumstances”.
Cabello also said that the United States “partially” achieved its goal because the people did not “run away out of control.”
