(NewsNation) — Following the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump said Saturday the United States will “run” the South American country.
“We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said during a televised address.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are in U.S. custody heading to New York where they’re expected to face criminal charges, a senior government source tells NewsNation. They could be in court as early as Monday, the source tells NewsNation, but exact timing has not been determined.
“We’re not afraid of boots on the ground,” Trump said Saturday. “We had boots on the ground last night. We’re going to make sure that country is run properly. We could have lost a lot. We’re going to run the country right. Very judiciously, very fairly. We’re going to give money to the people.”
The attack on Venezuela followed months of escalating pressure by the Trump administration, which has built up naval forces in the waters off South America and since early September has killed at least 115 people in 35 strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean. Last week, the U.S. struck Venezuelan soil with a CIA drone strike at a docking area alleged to have been used by drug cartels.
What charges is Maduro facing?
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on social network X that Maduro and Flores had both been indicted in the Southern District of New York and “will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”
She said Maduro faced charges of “Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States.”
Maduro was indicted in March 2020, during Trump’s first term, but the indictment against Flores was not previously made public.
In an indictment made public Saturday morning, U.S. authorities accused Maduro of leading a “a corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking.” It alleges the drug trafficking “enriched and entrenched Venezuela’s political and military elite.”
Reaction from Maduro’s government
Maduro’s government accused the United States of an “imperialist attack” on civilian and military installations and urged citizens to take to the streets.
