Nicolás Maduro has been transferred to a federal detention facility in New York following his capture during a U.S. military operation in Venezuela, as Washington moves ahead with criminal proceedings against the longtime Venezuelan leader and his wife, Cilia Flores.

Images and footage released by international news agencies and U.S. officials show the aftermath of Saturday’s dramatic events both in Venezuela and in the United States. In several American cities, demonstrators gathered to protest the U.S. strikes, carrying placards reading “No blood for oil” at rallies in places such as Times Square and outside the White House. At the same time, groups of Venezuelans celebrated Maduro’s removal, waving national flags late into the night outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he is currently being held. Some members of the Venezuelan diaspora expressed hope that the change would eventually allow them to return home.

The arrest followed the unsealing of a U.S. Justice Department indictment that lays out extensive charges against Maduro and his inner circle. Prosecutors accuse him of leading what they describe as a “corrupt and illegitimate government” sustained by large-scale drug trafficking operations that allegedly sent thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States over many years. Attorney General Pam Bondi said publicly that Maduro and his wife would face U.S. justice in American courts.

Maduro has been charged alongside his wife, his son and three other individuals. The indictment lists four main counts against him: conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy related to those weapons. These charges mirror those brought in a 2020 case filed in Manhattan during Donald Trump’s first presidency. The newly unsealed version, filed under seal in the Southern District of New York shortly before Christmas, expands the case to formally include charges against Flores.

It remains unclear when the couple will make their initial appearance before a federal judge in Manhattan. A video shared on social media by a White House account on Saturday night shows Maduro smiling as he is escorted through a Drug Enforcement Administration facility in New York by two federal agents. He is expected to remain in custody at a federal jail in Brooklyn while awaiting trial.

According to the indictment, Maduro worked closely with some of the world’s most violent drug trafficking networks, including Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel and Venezuela-based criminal groups such as Tren de Aragua. U.S. authorities allege these organizations operated with direct support from the Venezuelan state, funneling profits to senior officials in exchange for protection. Prosecutors claim that by 2020, as much as 250 tons of cocaine per year were moving through Venezuela, transported by speedboats, fishing vessels, container ships and aircraft departing from clandestine airstrips.