Overview
- Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro appeared in a New York court on Monday and pleaded not guilty to drug‑trafficking charges, insisting he remains Venezuela’s leader and was kidnapped.
- The UN human rights office said the unilateral military action breached a core international‑law principle, warned that further militarization could worsen conditions, and noted roughly eight million Venezuelans already needed aid, with no mass displacement detected since the weekend.
- Global markets largely treated the shock as a limited supply risk, with the dollar and gold gaining, oil showing only modest volatility, and U.S. energy shares such as Chevron advancing.
- Exiled Venezuelan security figures in Colombia said they are preparing to return to help replace the military’s top brass and back a future government, even as key security institutions inside Venezuela remain aligned with Maduro allies.
- President Donald Trump signaled potential pressure on other countries including Cuba and Colombia, while reports highlighted Cuba’s growing vulnerability as sharply reduced Venezuelan oil shipments deepen power outages and economic strain.