Ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro is facing a legal battle that could take years as he awaits trial for narcoterrorism offences in one of the worst prisons in New York.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are the latest high-profile detainees to be held in the notorious Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, a federal jail with a documented history of power outages, staffing shortages, and detainee complaints.
Before their January 3 capture by elite U.S. troops, the couple had lived at Miraflores Palace in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, a sprawling presidential residence known for its neoclassical architecture, large windows, grand halls, and manicured courtyards.
They are now among the detainees, a mix of suspects and defendants, including those accused of serious crimes, those in high-profile cases, and others awaiting sentencing or transfer.
Maduro and Flores made their first appearance before a New York court on January 5, pleading not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges.
