Nicolas Maduro returns to court in US drug trafficking case

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Venezuela’s ousted president Nicolas Maduro is due to appear before a New York court on Wednesday for his third public hearing since US forces captured him in a nighttime raid in January.

In a court filing late on Tuesday, prosecutors and defence lawyers proposed a June 2027 trial date, which Judge Alvin Hellerstein could confirm at Wednesday’s procedural hearing.

Meanwhile, outside the court, demonstrators have held signs in support of the ousted president and his wife.

Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores have been held in a Brooklyn jail since the US military operation, awaiting trial on drug trafficking, firearms and other charges.

People protest in support of former Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores outside of Manhattan federal court, Wednesday, 22 July, 2026, in New York.

Both have pleaded not guilty. They face possible life sentences if a jury finds they conspired to send cocaine into the United States.

“I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country,” Maduro said at his arraignment in January.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has described the raid as a “surgical law enforcement operation” in a criminal case first brought six years ago. However, Maduro has described himself as a “prisoner of war” and his capture as a kidnapping.

Prosecutors allege that Maduro conspired to traffic thousands of tonnes of cocaine into the United States by colluding with Venezuelan law enforcement officials to assist drug kingpins.

Maduro’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, has said he expects to contest the legality of Maduro’s “military abduction.”

The lawyers have said there are complex legal defenses that the court must address before a trial can begin.

Maduro and Flores have not asked to be released on bail.