After being apprehended last Saturday in Caracas and later transferred to the United States, Nicolas Maduro, the president of Venezuela, arrived this Monday with his wife Cilia Flores at the federal court in southern New York, in Manhattan, where he will make his first appearance before a judge. He will appear for the first time before a judge, beginning at 12:00 local time ( 17 :00 GMT ).

Maduro and Flores were transferred from Brookly n's Metropolitan Detention Center ( MDC ) to a field on the outskirts of the city, where they hopped on a helicopter to a helipad close to the Southern District of New York.

Minutes later, the plane made an landing in the vicinity of the courthouse.

Both were later driven in a fleet of five vehicles and given big police escorts to the court, according to pictures released by US press.

During the protection operation, police remained open while many streets in the area were closed.

Maduro, who was being guarded by US Drug Enforcement Administration ( DEA ) agents, exited with great difficulty and was aided by the agents in an armored vehicle that transported him to the courthouse.

Since the Department of Justice made a formal accusation against him next Saturday for drug-related crimes, which were originally filed in 2020, Maduro has made his first appearance before the US justice system on Monday. The major accused, Maduro, is the subject of this expanded accusation, which adds to the previous ones for conspiracy to use machine guns and dangerous devices, conspiracy to import heroin, conspiracy to import heroin, and conspiracy to use those weapons. However, the indictment also includes Cilia Flores, Maduro's woman, who the trial claims, according to its investigation, for allegedly assisting with the coordination of meetings and logistics for the network. His addition, in the opinion of the prosecution, expands the scope of the case and supports the idea that drug trafficking was a component of a community cultivated by Venezuela's top leaders. The Southern District of New York serves as the defendant in the case, which is being handled by 92-year-old Federal Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein. The court is expected to decide the future steps in the proceeding following the initial hearing, including the jury schedule and the conditions of detention.

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