After being captured by U.S. forces, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday arrived at a Brooklyn federal jail and will face narco-terrorism charges in federal court on Monday.
President Donald Trump said the United States captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, because they were trafficking drugs and using their oil industry to enrich U.S. adversaries, including Iran.
Trump said the U.S. is “going to run” Venezuela indefinitely in the aftermath of the capture of Maduro.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said during a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, according to CNN. “We don’t want to be involved with having someone else get in, and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years. So we are going to run the country.”
The first steps are securing what’s in the "national interest" of the United States and also beneficial to the people of Venezuela, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Meet the Press on Sunday.
"No more drug trafficking. No more Iran, Hezbollah presence there. No more using the oil industry to enrich all our adversaries around the world," Rubio said.
On Saturday, many Venezuelan New Yorkers stood outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park trying to get a glimpse of the captured former leader. Emotions were high, as most of the onlookers told BK Reader they were happy Maduro was captured by the U.S.
By Sunday, a few dozen protesters gathered outside the Brooklyn jail with the crowd chanting “we won’t pay for war and slaughter” while holding signs opposing a U.S. war with the Latin American country, according to the Associated Press.
The MDC also held Sean "Diddy" Combs, former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, R. Kelly and other high profile figures who faced federal charges.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the Trump administration did not seek congressional authorization for the use of military force and has failed to properly notify Congress in advance of the operation in Venezuela.
"The promotion of security and stability in a region requires more than just military force as we painfully discovered in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said in a statement.
There were many questions that remain unanswered with the White House's decision, the Brooklyn congressman added.
"First, how many American troops remain on the ground in Venezuela? Second, what does America is going to run Venezuela until a judicious transition takes place mean? Third, were these military strikes about seizing foreign oil to benefit friends of the Trump administration? Fourth, why did Donald Trump pardon the former Honduran President, a narco trafficker convicted in an American court of law, but is willing to take us to war in Venezuela in connection with similar allegations?"
