NEW YORK: Venezuela’s toppled leader, Nicolas Maduro, was in a New York detention centre on Sunday (Jan 4) awaiting drug charges after President Donald Trump ordered an audacious raid to capture him, saying the United States would take control of the oil-producing nation.
The image of the 63-year-old Maduro blindfolded and handcuffed en route to the US has stunned Venezuelans and was Washington’s most controversial intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama 37 years ago.
Maduro, who wished his captors a “Happy New Year” on arrival, is due to appear in a Manhattan court on Monday.
With memories of painful US interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, many world leaders were staggered at Trump’s move, even though Maduro’s standing was low given his autocratic rule and substantial evidence of vote-rigging.
“THERE IS FEAR AND UNCERTAINTY”
At home, Maduro allies were still in charge and have denounced his “kidnapping” as part of an imperialist oil grab.
Streets were far quieter than usual as Venezuelans anxiously discussed what would come next. Some stocked up on essentials but many simply hunkered indoors.
“I’ve just taken the dog out and it feels like an abandoned city, people are shut inside,” said Alejandra Palencia, 35, a psychologist in the city of Maracay.
“There is fear and uncertainty.”
Trump said the US would, for now, manage the South American nation of about 30 million people plus its oil reserves, the largest in the world. But he gave few details of how.
“We will run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” he told a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort, hailing the extraordinary extraction of Maduro just as he was at the door of a safe room.
Source: CNA
