Venezuela News highlights | Attorney General announces panel to investigate deaths in US action

Nicolas Maduro's wife Cilia Flores has also pleaded “not guilty” on all charges, CNN reported.

US-Venezuela tension LIVE: Nicolas Maduro reminded the judge that he was ‘still the President of Venezuela’, while pleading not guilty on all four charges in the New York Court

US-Venezuela tension LIVE: Nicolas Maduro pleaded 'not guilty' to the charges brought against him in the New York Court, where he has been brought in for arraignment, CNN reported.

In a move that signals a high-stakes legal battle ahead, Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, facing trial in the US after his “capture” in a military operation, has reportedly hired prominent lawyer Barry J Pollack to lead his defence.

A Washington-based trial lawyer known for representing high-profile and controversial figures, Pollack is most famously known for negotiating the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Read all about him here.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro makes his first appearance in a US courtroom following his capture, AP reported.

Alvin Hellerstein, a 92-year-old Orthodox Jewish judge who was appointed to the federal court nearly three decades ago by Bill Clinton, will oversee the trial of Nicolas Maduro.

The Venezuelan leader and his wife were captured on Saturday by US military forces while he was asleep in Caracas. He was later transported to the Brooklyn Detention Centre to await his arraignment, which is set for Monday. Read more about the judge here.

The National Assembly of Venezuela began a new legislative term on Monday and demanded the release of the country's President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

The assembly also reaffirmed that Vice President Delcy Rodríguez has assumed the charge of acting president following an order from the Supreme Court.

“The president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, has been kidnapped by the government of the United States, in a barbaric, treacherous, and cowardly attack,” said pro-government deputy Fernando Soto Rojas, debate director for the parliamentary session, according to CNN.

“The president of the United States, Mr. Trump, intends to be prosecutor, judge, and policeman of the world. From Bolivarian Venezuela, we say to him: “you will not succeed. And we are now going to develop full solidarity so that our legitimate president, Nicolás Maduro, returns victorious,”” he insisted.

Nicolás Maduro will be represented on Monday by Barry Pollack, a highly experienced US trial attorney who currently represents Julian Assange and brokered the deal for his plea agreement and release last summer, CNN reported.

Mark Donnelly, a white collar lawyer from Houston and a former Justice Department prosecutor, notified the court that he will represent Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores. Donnelly’s firm biography says he speaks Spanish, the report added.

US envoy to the UN Mike Waltz has said that the US was not “occupying a country” and that there is “no war against Venezuela or its people”.

An order to freeze financial assets held in Switzerland by ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and associates affects 37 individuals, the Swiss government said on Monday.

A spokesperson for the Swiss foreign ministry said that no details could be given on the total value of the assets frozen following the order, which is effective immediately, Reuters reported.

An oil tanker chartered by US Chevron, carrying approximately 300,000 barrels of Venezuelan heavy crude bound for the US Gulf Coast, departed on Monday from the OPEC country's waters, according to shipping data, following a four-day pause in the company's exports of Venezuelan oil, as reported by Reuters.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres raised concerns on Monday about a possible intensification of instability in Venezuela after the US capture of the Latin American country’s president Nicolas Maduro.

“I am deeply concerned about the possible intensification of instability in the country, the potential impact on the region, and the precedent it may set for how relations between and among states are conducted,” Guterres said in a statement delivered to the council by UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo.

Guterres also said in the statement that he was concerned that the US operation to capture Maduro in Caracas early on Saturday did not respect the rules of international law.

“I welcome and am ready to support all efforts aimed at assisting Venezuelans in finding a peaceful way forward,” he said in the statement.

Oil prices jumped by about 1% on Monday as traders assessed the potential impact on oil flows from the U.S. capture of President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, home to the world's largest oil reserves.

Brent crude futures were up 55 cents, or 0.9%, at $61.30 a barrel by 1426 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 64 cents, or 1.1%, to $57.96.

(Reuters)

Responding to US President Donald Trump’s accusations that Mexico has not done enough to combat drug trafficking cartels, Sheinbaum asserted the cooperation between Washington and Mexico City.

“Mexico cooperates with the United States, including for humanitarian reasons, to prevent fentanyl and other drugs from reaching its population, especially young people. We do not want fentanyl or any drug to get near any young person — whether in the United States, in Mexico, or anywhere else in the world,” she said, according to CNN.

US–Venezuela tension LIVE: Mexican president Gloria Sheinbaum has again spoken out against the US intervention in Venezuela and the seizure of its President Nicolas Maduro.

“Mexico’s position on any form of intervention is firm, clear and historic,” Sheinbaum told a news conference in Mexico City on Monday.

“Mexico reaffirms a principle that is neither new nor open to ambiguity: We categorically reject intervention in the internal affairs of other countries. The history of Latin America is clear and compelling. Intervention has never brought democracy,” Sheinbaum said.

“Only the people themselves can build their own future, decide their path, exercise sovereignty over their natural resources, and freely define their form of government,” she added.

Nicolas Maduro is accused of selling Venezuelan diplomatic passports to known drug traffickers and facilitating flights under diplomatic cover to bring drug proceeds back from Mexico to Venezuela.

The indictment alleged Maduro and his allies “provided law enforcement cover and logistical support” to major drug trafficking groups, such as the Sinaloa Cartel and Tren de Aragua gang. These criminal organisations sent profits to high-ranking officials who protected them in exchange, the DOJ said.

US–Venezuela tension LIVE: The US justice department indictment alleged that Nicolas Maduro and other Venezuelan leaders have, for more than 25 years, "abused their positions of public trust and corrupted once-legitimate institutions to import tons of cocaine into the United States."

US–Venezuela tension LIVE: Nicolas Maduro will appear before a judge for arraignment in a New York courthouse later today.