Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro pleads not guilty to drug charges in first US court appearance
Nicolas Maduro pleaded not guilty to drug charges in his first appearance in a US court on Monday, just days after he was captured in Caracas in a US military operation.
"I am innocent. I am not guilty of anything mentioned here," he told the judge. "I am a good man, the president of my country."
Maduro appeared alongside his wife, Cilia Flores, who also pleaded not guilty to similar charges, telling the court she was "totally innocent."
The judge ordered both to remain behind bars and set a new hearing date for March 17.
Colombian president ready to "take up arms" in the face of Trump's threats
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Monday he would "take up arms" in response to threats from US President Donald Trump, following the capture of Nicolas Maduro over the weekend.
Petro, a former guerrilla fighter who has faced months of harsh comments from Trump, wrote on Twitter: "I swore I would never touch a gun again... but for the homeland I will take up arms again."
Trump said over the weekend that Petro should "be careful what he does" and called Colombia's leftist president "a sick man who likes to produce cocaine and sell it to the United States."
He has exchanged harsh criticism with Trump since his return to the White House in January.
US allies and foes condemn Trump's intervention in Venezuela at UN Security Council meeting
Both allies and adversaries of the United States held an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday to criticize Washington's shocking military operation in Venezuela on Saturday, which toppled and captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
The countries expressed their opposition to US President Donald Trump's intervention in Caracas before the UN's most powerful body. They also criticized his recent comments that signaled the possibility of expanding military action to other South American countries, including Mexico and Colombia, over drug trafficking allegations.
The Republican president, after Saturday's operation in Venezuela, recalled his interest in taking over the Danish territory of Greenland, for the sake of US security interests, provoking strong reactions from Copenhagen and Nuuk, the capital of Greenland.
US attack on Greenland would be the end of NATO, Danish PM says
A US attack on a NATO ally would mean the end of both the military alliance and "post-World War II security", Denmark's leader warned, after Donald Trump again threatened to invade Greenland.
The US president said on Sunday that the US needed Greenland "very urgently", reviving fears of a US invasion of the largely autonomous island, which is a former Danish colony and remains part of the Danish kingdom.
The Danish prime minister warned on Monday that any US attack on a NATO ally would be the end of "everything".
