Venezuela’s Maduro faces US court months after Caracas capture

Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro returns to a US court on Thursday to face criminal charges, including narcoterrorism and cocaine importation conspiracy, for allegedly leading a cartel that collaborated with the FARC to ship drugs.

Following his capture in Caracas by US Special Forces on January 3, 2026, Maduro pleaded not guilty to all charges. Maduro and his co-defendants maintain that the case is a US imperialism conspiracy to destabilize Venezuela. The 2006 statute has only led to four trial convictions in 20 years as prosecutors must prove a “terrorism nexus”- showing that the defendant knew the drug trafficking was linked to a terrorist organization. 

Maduro, being a socialist is accused of leading a conspiracy in which government officials moved cocaine through Venezuela in collaboration with the FARC. He and his fellow officials deny all wrongdoing, labeling the charges as a manipulative plot by powerful nations to harm Venezuela.

However, two previous convictions were overturned due to witness credibility issues, including one instance where a key government witness was labeled a “fabricator.” In this connection, Alamdar Hamdani, a partner at law firm Bracewell and former US Attorney in Houston said: “ The lesson of these two cases is not that the narcoterrorism statute is unworkable.”

“It is that the statute's most demanding element-proving the defendant’s knowledge of the terrorims nexus --requires a quality of evidence and a standard of prosecutorial diligence that leaves no room for institutional gaps…”

The government may rely on testimony from former Venezuelan generals Cliver Alcala and Hugo Carvajal. Currently serving a 22-year stance, Alcala has expressed a willingness to cooperate but denies being a drug trafficker, claiming he provided weapons to the FARC under orders from the late Hugo Chavez. Legal experts warn that relying on cooperating insiders is risky, as juniors must be convinced these witnesses are telling the truth rather than simply trying to reduce their own sentences.