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Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were escorted off a Department of Justice (DOJ) plane by federal agents in upstate New York on Saturday afternoon, after being captured by U.S. forces at their South American compound earlier in the day.
The couple is expected to be transported to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) headquarters before they are booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, a source told Fox News.
Maduro is charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the U.S.
The indictment also lists his wife and son as defendants.
A DOJ plane containing captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife lands at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, N.Y., on Saturday. (WNYW)
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President Donald Trump shared a photo of Maduro after his capture aboard the USS Iwo Jima, though he and his wife were not clearly seen disembarking the plane in New York, due to the darkness.
“Operation Absolute Resolve” follows a series of U.S. military strikes on suspected drug vessels allegedly tied to the Venezuelan regime in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific.
The Venezuelan government said in a statement the attack was carried out to seize the country’s oil and minerals, and was an “attempt to impose a colonial war to destroy the republican form of government and force a ‘regime change,’ in alliance with the fascist oligarchy.”
Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro is led by officials while in custody from a DOJ airplane Saturday in upstate New York. (ABC Affiliate WABC via Reuters)
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Trump warned the U.S. is prepared to stage a “second and much larger attack,” confirming U.S. forces remain in position.
“We’re there now, and we’re going to stay until such time as the proper transition can take place,” Trump said.
Police patrol the West Side Heliport in New York City, Saturday, ahead of the expected arrival of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Maduro and his wife arrived in the U.S. after his capture by U.S. forces in Caracas. ( Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
The U.S. will remain in control of Venezuela “until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said.
The operation comes nearly 40 years after the U.S. military last removed a leader in Latin America.
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Panama dictator Manuel Noriega was successfully ousted in 1989, though it spurred long-term challenges in stabilizing governance.
While Venezuelan celebrations began in other countries, Fox News reported those inside the country were stockpiling food amid fears of instability.
Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.