Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s former president, is set to appear in a Manhattan federal courtroom again on Thursday as he battles sweeping U.S. “narco-terrorism” and drug trafficking charges.
In addition, Maduro is also caught up in a bitter dispute over the payment of his legal fees, as it remains unclear who will pay his lawyer.
Maduro, along with his wife, former First Lady Cilia Flores, was captured by U.S. special forces in a surprise and dramatic Jan. 3 raid in Caracas. According to Venezuelan authorities, the altercation killed around 100 people.
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Maduro and Flores were then flown to New York where they are being held in a Brooklyn jail, with no set trial date. Both pleaded not guilty on January 5 to US charges that accused them of helping ship tons of cocaine to America over many years.
The charges against Maduro allege that he led a “corrupt, illegitimate government that, for decades, has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking.”
It should be noted here that Thursday’s hearing in Manhattan will also focus on Maduro’s legal fees and who would be paying them. Maduro, who is trying to get his drug-trafficking indictment thrown out, has claimed that the US government is affecting his constitutional rights to have proper counsel as sanctions are stopping the government of Venezuela from paying his legal fees.
Last month, his defense attorney, Barry Pollack, in a letter addressed to the U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who is overseeing Maduro’s case, mentioned that the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control agency had briefly granted a sanctions license that would allow Caracas to cover the former President’s legal costs. However, that was revoked within hours without providing any valid explanation.
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Pollack also mentioned that, according to “Venezuelan law and custom”, the expenses of the President and the First Lady are to be borne by the government. In his letter, he further added, “The government of Venezuela has an obligation to pay Mr. Maduro’s fees, Mr. Maduro has a legitimate expectation that the government of Venezuela would do so, and Mr. Maduro cannot otherwise afford counsel.”
However, prosecutors have argued that since the US has not recognized Maduro as Venezuela’s lawful President since 2019, he should not expect that they will allow the government to pay their fees. They further added that Maduro can pay for his own counsel, something that the former President has mentioned that he cannot afford.
While it is not clear how much Pollack, who had previously represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, is charging Maduro, the lawyer has mentioned that he would quit if Hellerstein does not dismiss the charges and the Venezuelan government does not pay his fees. In that case, as prosecutors have pointed out, Maduro might be given a public defender to represent him in court.
