Name: US charges Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro with drugs and weapons offences | BBC News
Uploaded: 2026-01-03T17:02:05.000Z
Duration: 6 min 5 s
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Let's also bring you a tweet now from Pam Bondi.

I can't actually read that from where I AM, but the U.S.

attorney General, Pam Bondi, I'm being told, has tweeted and she has said this.

Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York.

Nicolas Maduro has been charged with narco terrorism, conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and

conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States.

They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.

On behalf of the entire US DOJ Department of Justice, I would like to thank President Trump for having the courage to, to demand accountability on behalf of the American people.

And a huge thank you to our brave military who conducted the incredible and highly successful mission to capture those two alleged international narco traffickers.

Those are the charges which will be put in front of Nicolas Maduro if and when he arrives on American soil, as we believe he will.

The main charges will be on drugs and terrorism against Venezuela's president and his wife.

Well, let's dig a little bit more deeply into what has happened.

Our global affairs reporter Mimi Swaby is here.

We're just hearing there about the charges against President Maduro.

Just remind viewers who are watching this at home what exactly the background is.

President Maduro obviously has been in power since 2013, since the death of Hugo Chavez, but

the government is widely considered illegitimate by the international community.

From the 2024 elections, it is widely considered that Nicolas Maduro rigged the election and declared victory, when in fact, the opposition, led by Maria Corinachado, the candidate, and

Now, following that very disputed election, he claimed power and really cracked down on political repression.

We saw thousands of individuals arrested, protests erupted in the streets, and

Now, this is on top of nearly 8 million Venezuelans who have fled the country since he first came into power in 2013, largely due to political repression alongside east economic hardship and other humanitarian issues.

But he's very much consolidated his power and relies heavily on the military to do so.

Nicolas Maduro has been warned repeatedly now, intensifyingly, in the last few months, since the US Started their operation in early September with these numerous strikes on alleged vessels carrying drugs from Venezuela through the South Caribbean Sea as well as the Pacific Ocean, that they wanted to Fight drugs, which they say Nicolas Maduro heads a cartel, cartel Dolosau, largely from the military that has a.

Supposedly has a strong root due to the military.

Those solace, the suns are a symbol of ranking with Venezuelan military officials.

And this is something he has denied, but it's been increasing pressure.

We've seen they've said that he heads these drug operations.

Oil tanker seized, a land strike recently and now an unprecedented operation in Venezuela extracting the disputed leader and his wife now supposedly heading for the US And I really want to make it clear to viewers at home that although we say this is an illegitimate government, this is still a sovereign, independent state.

And I'm pretty sure that other Latin American countries will be extremely worried about the precedent this sets that the US Feels that it's able to dive into another country, an independent sovereign state, extract the leader and put that leader on trial.

This is going to worry Latin Americans, isn't it?

Many will remember the era of gunboat diplomacy from the US where the US Essentially went into countries, meddled and toppled regimes it didn't see fit to govern and it was a really bloody, destructive period.

Now, President Trump says he is the president of peace.

However, all eyes in the region and the global community will be on what happens next and specifically what actions the US Take next.

The idea that extracting and presumably removing Nicolas Maduro from power for the opposition, who is very heavily backed by the US And Donald Trump specifically to move in is deceptively simple.

That is not going to happen efficiently or very simply.

Maduro's inner circle, four key players are very much holding for.

We've seen all four of those, including the vice president, the foreign minister and the minister of internal affairs, make public statements and really rally Venezuelans saying we are going to stand strong, calling arms and deploying police forces across the country, as well as civilian militia to crack down on any Venezuelans celebrating.

They really are kind of holding power at the moment.

We've seen Delta Rodriguez, the vice president, seemingly exercising power constitutionally, she is kind of next in command.

Lots of people are looking at the Ostello Caballo, who is kind of the second in command.

He is very much going to be in the spotlight as well as trying to kind of fill that power vacuum the forcible or forced removal of Nicolas Maduro has left.

But it will be over the coming days that we'll see who actually takes up that power.