Maduro Case Puts World’s Spotlight on SDNY: New York Brief

Hellerstein Presides as Maduro Fights Case

The scene outside SDNY.

Photographer: Bing Guan/Bloomberg

Nicolás Maduro and his wife pleaded not guilty to US charges in a narco-terrorism case, kicking off an extraordinary legal battle and placing lower Manhattan’s federal district courthouse at the center of geopolitics.

“I am innocent,” Maduro said on Monday at a half-hour hearing. “I am a decent man,” adding he’s still the president of Venezuela and was “kidnapped” from Caracas.

The US accused Maduro of using his positions in government for a quarter of a century to enrich himself and help transport cocaine into the country. His toppling reverberated around the world ...