Venezuela's deposed leader Nicolas Maduro has pleaded not guilty to drugs charges in a US court - telling a judge “I am a decent man, the president of my country”.
He added that he was a “prisoner of war”.
The 63-year-old was filmed being escorted in handcuffs by US Drug Enforcement Agency officials from a jail in Brooklyn to Manhattan federal court.
In the biggest US intervention in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama, Special Forces swooped into Venezuela’s capital Caracas on helicopters at the weekend to smash through Maduro's security cordon and capture him and his wife, Cilia Flores, 69, at the door of a safe room.
He appeared in a New York federal court to four criminal counts that include narco-terrorism, cocaine importation conspiracy and possession of machine guns and destructive devices.
His wife and Venezuela’s first lady, Flores, also entered not guilty pleas.
Maduro told the court he had been “kidnapped’ by the US and maintained that he is still the president of Venezuela.
A man in the courtroom shouted at Maduro that he would “pay” for his crimes.
Maduro replied: "I'm a president and prisoner of war" before the man was escorted out.
The next hearing in Maduro’s case is set for March 17, US media has reported. The judge ordered him to appear again on that date.
Maduro’s lawyer reportedly said that he is not currently seeking to be released on bail, but may do so in the future.
An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council was held earlier following the action by the US to capture Maduro.
Officials have warned Donald Trump’s administration may have breached international law.
Home Office minister Mike Tapp, on the media round for the UK Government, stepped up the attack on Maduro, branding him an “evil, illegitimate dictator” and saying it was “fantastic” that he was no longer in power.
“What we need to see now is a democratic, safe and peaceful transition of power,” he told BBC Breakfast.
Sir Simon Fraser, former head of the Foreign Office and chairman of foreign affairs think tank Chatham House, issued a stark warning as Sir Keir Starmer was sitting on the fence on whether the US special forces raid on Venezuela to capture Maduro was legal.
The Prime Minister may be forced to take a firmer stance on the legal issue if there is a vote at the United Nations Security Council, though one report suggested the UK may abstain.
Sir Keir, who has been reluctant to criticise the US president as he sought to build closer ties with Washington, declined at the weekend to condemn the military operation to capture Maduro.
The UK Government says it is up to the Trump administration to lay out the legal basis for seizing Maduro.
Dame Emily Thornberry, Labour chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, condemned Maduro but she stressed: “You just can’t go around snatching leaders from different countries, taking them back to your domestic courts and trying them.
“It will just end in anarchy.
“My primary problem, is there is no legal basis for this and it sets a really bad precedent for countries such as China and Russia who may also think ‘we’ve got spheres of influence, why can’t we do things like that’.”
Dame Emily, a barrister, added that the failure by Sir Keir and other world leaders to criticise Trump was undermining current international law as it would “move on” if such actions were deemed acceptable.
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Sir Simon, former head of the British diplomatic service, told Sky News: “We have looked at the United States as an ally that upholds international order and an international system.
“If the United States’ behaviour is going to change then we have got to understand that and react to it.
“Whilst we might want to preserve the relationship with America we have got to think in the longer term about the nature of the world that that will lead to.
“It’s going to be a much more disordered and much more dangerous world for all of us.”
Trump administration officials have sought to portray Maduro’s seizure as a law-enforcement action to hold him accountable for criminal charges filed in 2020 that accuse him of narco-terrorism conspiracy.
But Trump has also said other factors were at play, saying the raid was prompted in part by an influx of Venezuelan immigrants to the United States and the country's decision to nationalize US oil interests decades ago.
"We're taking back what they stole," he said aboard Air Force One as he returned on Sunday to Washington from Florida.
"We're in charge."
The removal of Maduro is seen as the most assertive US intervention to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and followed months of pressure from Washington on the country and its autocratic leader.
Venezuela's acting president offered on Sunday to collaborate with the United States on an agenda focused on "shared development", striking a conciliatory tone for the first time since US forces captured Maduro.
In a statement posted on social media, Acting President Delcy Rodriguez said her government was prioritizing a move towards respectful relations with the United States, having earlier criticized the raid on Saturday as an illegal grab for the country's national resources.
Trump has warned of another military strike if Venezuela does not cooperate with US efforts to open up its oil industry and stop drug trafficking.
The US president also threatened military action in Colombia and Mexico and said Cuba's communist regime "looks like it's ready to fall" on its own.
