Venezuela's Maduro Lands In NY; Held At MDC Awaiting Arraignment Amid Celebrations And Protests: Reports

NEW WINDSOR, NY — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, arrived Saturday afternoon at Stewart Air National Guard Base, hours after their capture during a U.S. military operation in Caracas, amid celebrations and protests, according to published reports.

The couple was taken into custody overnight in their Caracas home, and then taken to the USS Iwo Jima warship before being flown to New York, where they could be arraigned on an indictment in federal court in Manhattan as early as Monday, CBS News reported, citing two sources.

President Donald Trump announced the capture in a "large-scale strike" Saturday morning, a move that came on the heels of months of assaults on suspected drug vessels believed to be tied to the Venezuelan regime in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific, Fox News reported.

In a statement, Venezuelan government officials said the attack was carried out to seize the country's oil and minerals and was an "attempt to impose a colonial war to destroy the republican form of government and force a ‘regime change,’ in alliance with the fascist oligarchy," the outlet reported.

Maduro government loyalists have been rallying in the streets of Caracas, with demands that the U.S release him, and were joined in their support by Caracas Mayor Carmen Meléndez, who protested he was "kidnapped," the BBC reported.

Maduro and his wife landed in New York at around 4:45 p.m., and they could be seen being led by law enforcement down the plane’s stairway while surrounded by dozens of personnel before being escorted into a facility at the airbase, The New York Post reported.

Maduro and Flores was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility in Brooklyn, which is known for its capacity to house high-profile defendants like Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Luigi Mangione, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, and Ghislaine Maxwell, according to CBS.

Maduro's capture seemed to be polarizing for Venezuelans as they learned of his detainment.

Some erupted in celebration, and chants would be heard celebrating his capture in the streets of Chile’s capital, News Nation reported.

“We are free. We are all happy that the dictatorship has fallen and that we have a free country,” said Khaty Yanez, a Venezuelan woman who has spent the last seven years in Chile, according to the outlet.

Her compatriot, Jose Gregorio, told the outlet: "My joy is too big. After so many years, after so many struggles, after so much work, today is the day. Today is the day of freedom.”

In New York, members of the NYPD lined the streets outside the facility where The Associated Press reported there was a demonstration celebrating Maduro's arrival.

There was also a demonstration in Times Square Saturday afternoon against U.S. intervention in Caracas, with protestors telling reporters that it was not about drug trafficking or democracy but stealing oil and dominating Latin America, Eyewitness News reported.

Nadia Weiman told the outlet: "We have to stand for the truth, and what's right, we have to stand for freedom, for equality."

The demonstration was one of more than 80 scheduled to take place throughout the U.S. on Saturday, according to the outlet.

In the superseding indictment, which was filed in the Southern District of New York, against Maduro, members of his family and his cabinet, prosecutors allege he committed narco-terrorism and imported cocaine, as well as having and conspiring to have "Machineguns and Destructive Devices," according to the court document, which was unsealed Saturday by Attorney General Pam Bondi, the outlet reported.

Maduro and his wife were reportedly dragged out of their beds during an early morning U.S. military strike on Saturday, and then spirited out of the country to New York.

In a news conference around noon, the president said that the U.S. is “going to run” Venezuela until a transition of power can take place, but it’s unclear what that will mean for the South American country, The Associated Press reported.

During the strike, there were explosions, and low-flying aircraft swept through the country's capital, including at least seven blasts, which were heard in an attack lasting less than 30 minutes, with targets appearing to include military infrastructure, according to the outlet.

A senior Venezuelan official told The New York Times that at least 40 people, including military personnel and civilians, died in the attack.

Hundreds of airline flights to Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean were canceled on Saturday, after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered commercial aircraft to avoid airspace in parts of the region following the U.S. strikes on Venezuela, cnbc.com reported.

Maduro's capture had some New York lawmakers concerned.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was briefed on plans to imprison Maduro and his wife in New York City, and called their capture an "act of war and a violation of federal and international law," according to Fox News.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, in a post to Twitter, said that there are "no credible threats to New York at this time, State police are coordinating with our partners in law enforcement to monitor the situation and keep New Yorkers safe.

Patch has reached out to the New York Police Department, as well as Nassau and Suffolk police departments on Long Island, for comment.

Hochul said she was briefed on the developments in Venezuela with Maduro, following President Donald Trump’s "flagrant abuse of power by acting without congressional approval."

"New York is home to a vibrant Venezuelan community, and I stand with families here and abroad in their hopes for a better, more stable future," she said.

Patch has reached out to the White House press office for a response to Hochul's comments.

In a tweet Saturday night, The White House posted: "Nicolas Maduro had his chance — until he didn’t."

"The Trump Admin will always defend American citizens against all threats, foreign and domestic," the post concluded.

The post included a montage of video of what appears to be the strike, as well as Trump's news conference on Saturday, and photos of Maduro blindfolded and wearing earphones while his hands were restricted.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican who is campaigning to unseat Hochul, defended the Trump administration's actions, and criticized the governor's comments for denouncing the mission as a “flagrant abuse of power,” by calling her remarks “a stunning defense of a narco-regime whose criminal enterprise has devastated New York families.”

In his statement sent by his campaign's press office, he said: “Let’s be absolutely clear. Today’s mission was aimed at toppling Nicolás Maduro, a man U.S. authorities have accused of running a drug-trafficking regime that has flooded American cities — including New York — with lethal narcotics. Those drugs are killing our children and tearing families apart, and Kathy Hochul is more outraged by action against Maduro than by the carnage on our streets.”

Blakeman's office said he was pointing to "a growing body of federal indictments and law-enforcement actions tying Venezuelan criminal networks to drug trafficking, gang violence, and organized crime activity in New York, including those against Tren de Aragua racketeering and drug indictments, which "charged dozens of members and associates of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua with racketeering offenses, including narcotics distribution, robbery, weapons offenses, and conspiracy, and the sale of the synthetic drug commonly known as 'tusi,' which has been linked to addiction and violence in New York's communities."

It also included Venezuelan gun and drug trafficking rings operating in New York City, where law enforcement "dismantled Venezuelan-linked crews involved in illegal firearms trafficking and drug distribution, with activity centered in Manhattan and the Bronx, underscoring the transnational nature of these criminal enterprises."

Included additionally was the mention of street-level drug and gang operations tied to Venezuelan networks, as well as high-level Venezuelan drug traffickers prosecuted with New York ties, and a former Venezuelan general who pleaded guilty to narco-terrorism.

Blakeman went on to say that if Hochul "wants to lecture America about 'abuse of power,’ the real abuse is forcing parents to bury their kids because fentanyl and other drugs poured into our state while politicians looked the other way."

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told reporters he was not briefed by the Trump administration, but was not briefed on the operation, but has had "some contact with the administration, in that we’ve asked them for the Gang of Eight briefing and the all-congressmen and all-senators briefing," CNN reported.

Schumer said that next week the Senate will take up a resolution introduced by him, Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California, and Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, with aims to curb Trump’s ability to use the military in Venezuela without authorization from Congress, the outlet reported.

The House Democrats are expected to hold a phone meeting on Sunday, according to the outlet.