A defiant Nicolás Maduro stood before a Manhattan courtroom on Monday and declared himself the legitimate leader of Venezuela, rejecting sweeping U.S. drug trafficking charges that Washington has used to justify his dramatic removal from power.

“I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the president of my country,” Maduro said through a court-appointed interpreter, moments before being cut off by the judge. It was his first public appearance since he and his wife were seized in a stunning overnight U.S. military operation at their   home on a Venezuelan military base and flown to the United States.

The brief but consequential court proceeding marked the opening chapter of what U.S. officials describe as one of the most significant prosecutions of a foreign head of state in decades. The case is unfolding amid an extraordinary diplomatic rupture, following Donald Trump’s declaration that his administration would temporarily “run” Venezuela after Maduro’s capture.

Maduro appeared in court wearing a jail uniform, escorted under heavy guard alongside his wife. Both wore headsets to follow the English-language proceedings translated into Spanish. They had been transferred earlier in the day from a Brooklyn detention facility to the federal courthouse in Manhattan.

In Caracas, Venezuela’s newly declared interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, demanded Maduro’s immediate return, denouncing the U.S. action as illegal. Yet her tone later softened, with a social media message signalling openness to dialogue, collaboration, and “respectful relations” with Washington.

Before his capture, Maduro and his allies consistently argued that U.S. hostility was driven less by narcotics concerns and more by Venezuela’s vast oil and mineral reserves. That narrative gained traction over the weekend as Trump openly linked Maduro’s removal to the prospect of increased oil flows from the country.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to clarify that Washington would not govern Venezuela’s day-to-day affairs, aside from enforcing an existing oil quarantine. Still, Trump’s comments suggested a broader ambition to extend American influence across the hemisphere. Speaking aboard Air Force One, he sharply criticised Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, and warned Venezuelan authorities against limiting U.S. access.

Despite expectations of expanded oil supply, global markets reacted cautiously. Oil prices rose more than one per cent on Monday to about $58 a barrel, reflecting uncertainty over how quickly Venezuela’s neglected energy sector could recover and who would ultimately control it.

The indictment unsealed on Saturday accuses Maduro of conspiring with drug cartels to funnel thousands of tonnes of cocaine into the United States. If convicted, he and his co-defendants could face life imprisonment, an outcome that would mark an unprecedented moment in modern international politics and deepen tensions across the Caribbean and Latin America.