NEW YORK — Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro’s criminal trial in New York City will start in June 2027, a judge ruled during a Wednesday hearing, a timeline that reflects the mountain of classified evidence in a case that involves spy agencies, the U.S. military and law enforcement.
The court hearing was the ousted Venezuelan president’s first public appearance in months, as his case slowly advances. It was brief, with little discussion about the pending issues in the case.
Maduro appeared healthy and composed when he entered the courtroom at noon, sporting thick-framed glasses and a tan, short-sleeved prison uniform. He scanned the crowd in the tightly packed gallery before nodding and saying “good morning” in a firm tone. He made a tight smile beneath his signature mustache as he made his way toward his lawyers, then sat and put on black headphones to hear a translation of the proceedings.
Maduro, who remained in power after contested national elections, was captured in a U.S. military operation in Caracas in January and brought to the United States, an action he described as “kidnapping.” The DOJ charged him with multiple offenses including conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine, alleging that the South American dictator had morphed into a corrupt public official and drug kingpin.
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The U.S. approach echoed the 1989 American military-led capture of Panamanian military dictator Manuel Noriega, who was convicted of drug charges and spent decades in U.S., French and Panamanian prisons before his death. Maduro, 63, and his wife, who was also seized, face potential life sentences if convicted on charges he flooded the United States with cocaine.
A major hang-up early on pertained to the Trump administration’s initial refusal to allow Maduro to tap Venezuelan public funds to pay for his defense lawyers, but the government has since relented.
Defense lawyer Barry Pollack alluded to making future arguments about Maduro being protected by sovereign immunity and limitations in the U.S. government’s jurisdiction.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein noted that he would have to spend significant time privately reviewing sensitive evidence behind closed doors as part of the Classified Information Procedures Act of 1980 and asked repeatedly whether the next year would be enough time for him to decide what documents and information can be used by prosecutors in open court.
“This is a realistic schedule,” Pollack said.
A defense lawyer for the ousted president’s wife, Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro, who was also in the room, concurred.
Lawyers must lay out their legal arguments in time for the next court hearing, set for Nov. 17, and the judge scheduled a final conference on May 25, a week before the trial is expected to start.
Hellerstein, 93, struggled to walk to the bench and speak during the hearing. He could oversee what could be a weeks-long trial. Prosecutors and defense lawyers made no mention in court of how long the trial could go.
Hellerstein appears to be sensitive to the optics of having a foreign leader face justice in American courts; at one point he asked an agent with the U.S. Marshals Service, who had tapped Maduro’s shoulder, to back away when Maduro began to whisper to his lawyer.
“Let them speak. Let them speak,” Hellerstein said in a hoarse voice.
When the hearing was over, Maduro stood and adjusted a second pair of reading glasses in his left chest pocket. He shook hands with defense lawyers and left the courtroom.
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