BAKER COUNTY, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expressed his support for the Trump administration’s capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
During an immigration-related news conference Monday at “Deportation Depot” in Baker County, DeSantis took a few minutes to tout the military operation that led to the early-Saturday capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at their home on a military base in Caracas.
“That operation was successful, he deserves to be brought to justice, and my sincere hope is that the people of Venezuela are going to be able to liberate themselves from the yoke of the Chavez-Maduro reign, because it has been one of the most destructive reigns of any in the Western Hemisphere’s history.”
Press play above to watch DeSantis’ remarks on Maduro’s capture
The operation termed “Absolute Resolve” unfolded under the cover of darkness, with U.S. forces holding fast in the region, awaiting the ideal weather conditions to give pilots clear routes into Caracas. The extensive planning included practice on a replica of the presidential compound, as well as U.S. service members armed with what Trump said were “massive blowtorches” in the event the steel walls of a safe room needed to be cut open to extract the pair.
DeSantis’ remarks came the same day Maduro had his first appearance in court in New York, where he pleaded not guilty to the federal drug trafficking charges that the Trump administration used to justify his removal from power.
“I was captured,” Maduro said in Spanish as translated by a courtroom reporter before being cut off by the judge.
Asked later for his plea to the charges, he stated: “I’m innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the president of my country.”
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As a criminal defendant in the U.S. legal system, Maduro will have the same rights as any other person accused of a crime — including the right to a trial by a jury of regular New Yorkers. But he’ll also be nearly — but not quite — unique.
Maduro’s lawyers are expected to contest the legality of his arrest, arguing that he is immune from prosecution as a sovereign head of state.