After a month of his detention in a Venezuelan military base, hardly anything is known about him. Nicolas Maduroa reference for the Latin American authoritarian left for more than twelve years.
Locked up, like his wife, in the well-known Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, between the Greenwood Cemetery and the port from where the tourist boats leave for Governors Island and the Statue of Liberty, the former dictator is still awaiting trial. His first hearing before the judge Alvin K. Hellerstein92, is scheduled for March 17.
Called ‘The Hole’ or the ‘Hell Hole’, the MDC is a federal prison known for the harshness of its conditions, the continuous power outages, the brutality of its officials… and its famous occupants.
At this moment, they are awaiting trial, apart from Maduro and Cilia Floresthe rapper Diddyaccused of gender violence and white trafficking; the well-known crypto scammer Sam Bankman-Friedin his day one of the richest men in the country, and Luigi Mangionea computer systems engineer, who admitted to having shot Brian ThompsonCEO of United Healthcare, in the middle of the street.
The Department of Prisons has refused to clarify whether Maduro and his wife can see each other or if there is any type of contact with the outside world. “We do not give information about any of the prisoners in our system and here we are not going to make an exception,” its officials stated when asked by the press.
It is understandable that there must be some thread of communication, since this is a deposed head of state and whose collaboration would be very interesting for the Government of Delcy Rodriguez tutored by Donald Trump y Marco Rubio.
The transition
This is where an interesting dilemma arises. The White House’s goal is for Delcy to lead a transition from within. If you did not choose Maria Corina Machado o Edmundo González Urrutia It was precisely because of his limited influence within the centers of power, especially in the army.
Now, Delcy, no matter how powerful she was within the ruling party – and she was, just like her brother Jorge or Diosdado Hair—, she was still Nicolás Maduro’s second. Their collaboration would be a great boost for the process.
And here is the question: is he willing to help Maduro in exchange for a reduction in his sentences or one of the multiple pardons that Trump is giving out… or is he watching with horror everything that is happening in his country? Because the truth is that Delcy Rodríguez is complying with each and every one of the American demands: from the partial amnesty for political prisoners to the promise of the closure of the terrible Helicoide prison or, above all, the sale of oil to the United States and the blockade of the regime. Miguel Diaz-Canel in Cuba.
We do not know if Maduro is a man of principles. Taking into account the ease with which his subordinates are adapting to the new conditions and how much it cost him, one would have to think so.
If that is the case, you will be witnessing in disbelief what has happened in just one month in your country, although let us not forget that there are still many things to fix in Venezuela: the opposition is still unable to organize itself as such, repression continues in the streets and, above all, the government has gone from being imposed by the army to being imposed by a foreign power. In no case, for the people.
No sign of the Cartel of the Suns
The collaboration of both Maduro and Flores, when it comes to using their contacts and their moral authority, would serve both of them well, but perhaps they do not want to know anything about those who, it seems, have betrayed them.
For now, the autocrat’s defense is giving up asking for bail, which will not be granted in any case, and the strategy will be to vindicate his status as a political prisoner and not as a drug trafficker linked to a terrorist group.
In that sense, his lawyer, Barry Pollackwho already represented the activist Julian Assangeit seems that he will focus his argument on Maduro’s well-documented status as head of state and the fact that he was “kidnapped” in his own country.
It must be remembered that Maduro and his wife are accused of conspiracy to narcoterrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
The fact that the Department of Justice decided to withdraw the main and most serious accusation, that is, the alleged leadership of the Cartel of the Suns, may be very important for Maduro.
Basically, what has become clear is that the Cartel of the Suns does not exist as such, but is the name that has been given since pre-Chavez times to corruption and bribery plots related to cocaine within the State security forces.
Since Maduro cannot be the head of something that does not exist, the political motive of the operation is more exposed.
Now, the list of possible crimes committed by Maduro and his wife does not end there: the Department of State and the Department of Justice continue to analyze their account movements and their possible relationships with other cartels, especially Colombian and Mexican ones.
They need to shore up the drug trafficking accusation, because the rest falls short: rigging elections in a foreign country is not a matter for trial in Brooklyn and neither should owning machine guns.
Judge Hellerstein, of proven solvency, will surely be very strict in this regard and the prosecution will have to go beyond propaganda.