NEW YORK (AP) — Nicolás Maduro returns to court with his lawyers Wednesday and is expected to continue objecting to the U.S. military action that snatched the Venezuelan president from power and deposited him in New York to face drug trafficking charges.
Maduro, 63, and his wife Cilia Flores, 69, have been held at a Brooklyn jail ever since U.S. forces seized them from their Caracas home in a stunning middle-of-the-night raid and brought them to New York in early January.
Both have pleaded not guilty. They face potential life prison sentences if a jury agrees that they were part of a conspiracy to send cocaine into the U.S.
President Donald Trump’s administration has defended the raid as a “surgical law enforcement operation” in a criminal case first brought six years ago. Maduro has called himself a prisoner of war and his capture a kidnapping.
U.S. prosecutors say Maduro carried out a conspiracy to move thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. by colluding with Venezuelan law enforcement to help drug kingpins.
“I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country," he said in Spanish at his arraignment in January.
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. Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein has yet to set a trial date.
FILE - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro points to supporters during a campaign rally in the Catia neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, July 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)
PARIS (AP) — The Louvre's Apollo gallery on Wednesday reopened to the public for the first time since last year's crown jewels heist.
The collections and precious jewels that it once displayed have been removed, as the museum said the gallery is returning to its 17th-century original ceremonial purpose.
Security at the Paris museum has been boosted with the addition of new surveillance cameras and anti-intrusion systems.
On the day of the heist, thieves took less than eight minutes to force their way through a window into the Apollo Gallery and steal crown jewels valued at 88 million euros ($102 million) from the Louvre, in a weekend operation that stunned visitors ad exposed glaring security vulnerabilities.
Security improvement is a priority of the decade-long “Louvre New Renaissance” plan launched last year, with an estimated cost of up to 800 million euros ($933 million) to modernize infrastructure, ease crowding and give the Mona Lisa a dedicated gallery by 2031.
Visitors take a picture of the window which was broken during the reopening to the public of the Apollo Gallery, at the Louvre museum in Paris, Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Lou Benoist/Pool Photo via AP)
France's Culture Minister Catherine Pegard speaks to the press during the reopening to the public of the Apollo Gallery, at the Louvre museum in Paris, Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Lou Benoist/Pool Photo via AP)
Visitors take a picture of the window which was broken during the reopening to the public of the Apollo Gallery, at the Louvre museum in Paris, Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Lou Benoist/Pool Photo via AP)
Visitors arrive during the reopening to the public of the Apollo Gallery, at the Louvre museum in Paris, Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Lou Benoist/Pool Photo via AP)
A visitor looks on during the reopening to the public of the Apollo Gallery, at the Louvre museum in Paris, Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Lou Benoist/Pool Photo via AP)
