Caracas’ Mayor Carmen Melendez (C) is seen during a demonstration in support of ousted Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas on January 4, 2026, a day after he was captured in a US strike. The Venezuelan military recognised Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro’s VP, as acting president Sunday. Venezuela’s deposed president Nicolas Maduro is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in New York at noon Monday, to be formally notified about the charges against him, the court said.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, wereseized by US forcesduring a pre-dawn raid Saturday in Caracas and brought to New York to face charges of “narcoterrorism” tied to alleged trafficking of tons of cocaine into the United States. NYPD officers stand outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is being held, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, on January 4, 2026. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was in a New York jail January 3, hours after American special forces seized and flew him out of his country — which Donald Trump said would come under effective US control.
The US president’s announcement followed a lightning pre-dawn attack in which commandos grabbed Maduro and his wife while air strikes pounded sites in and around Caracas. President Donald Trump threatened Sunday that Venezuela’s new leader will pay a “big price” if she does not cooperate with the United States, after US forces seized and jailed her former boss Nicolas Maduro. If interim president Delcy Rodriguez “doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” Trump told The Atlantic in a telephone interview.
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US forcesattacked Caracas in the early hours of Saturday, bombing military targets and spiriting away Maduro and his wife to face federal narco-trafficking charges in New York. The streets of Caracas were calm in the wake of the stunning raid, in which US commandos swooped into Caracas on helicopters, backed by attack jets and naval forces, to capture Maduro. The Venezuelan military announced it recognised Rodriguez – previously Maduro’s vice president – as acting president, and urged people to resume normal life.
Cesar Diaz (top), son of the owner of a damaged apartment, is seen during its cleaning in Catia La Mar, La Guaira State, Venezuela, on January 4, 2026, a day after Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro was captured in a US strike. Venezuela’s military on Sunday recognised Delcy Rodriguez, deputy to ousted president Nicolas Maduro, as the country’s acting leader, after US forces extracted the former head of state to face trial.
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