Overview
- Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores appeared in Manhattan federal court, pleaded not guilty to narco‑terrorism and related charges, and were remanded to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn with the next hearing set for March 17.
- Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as acting president in Caracas, with powerful figures including Diosdado Cabello and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López still in place as control on the ground remains contested.
- Gunfire was reported near the presidential palace and rights groups and witnesses described paramilitary activity in the capital, while a U.S. official said Washington was not involved in the overnight clashes.
- The administration signaled it will lean on oil policy and sanctions, with President Trump saying U.S. oil companies will rebuild Venezuela’s energy sector and Secretary of State Marco Rubio citing enforcement of an existing oil quarantine.
- The U.N. Human Rights Office warned the U.S. action makes the world less safe and Russia condemned the intervention at the Security Council, as diaspora communities voiced caution about returning despite Maduro’s capture.