Toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has pleaded not guilty to charges of narco-terrorism after the United States' extraordinary capture of him rattled world leaders, and left officials in Caracas scrambling to respond.
"I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country," Mr Maduro, 63, said through an interpreter.
"I'm president of the Republic of Venezuela and I'm here kidnapped since 3 January, Saturday," Mr Maduro told the court, before being cut off by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan federal court.
"I was captured at my home in Caracas, Venezuela."
One of the most dramatic moments came at the end of the hearing when Maduro had a heated exchange with a man in the public gallery who shouted that he would pay for his crimes.
"I am a prisoner of war," Mr Maduro responded before being led out of the court.
Mr Maduro's wife Cilia Flores also pleaded not guilty. Their next court date was set for 17 March.
Dozens of protesters, both pro- and anti-Maduro, gathered outside the courthouse before the half-hour hearing.
Hours later in Caracas, Mr Maduro's vice president Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in as Venezuela's interim president with words of support for Mr Maduro but no indication she would fight the US move.
"I come with pain in my heart over the kidnapping of two heroes who are being held hostage," she said, pledging to move Venezuela forward in "these terrible times."
Watch: Delcy Rodriguez sworn in as interim president of Venezuela
Accusations of cocaine trafficking
Mr Maduro is accused of overseeing a cocaine-trafficking network that partnered with violent groups including Mexico's Sinaloa and Zetas cartels, Colombian FARC rebels and Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang.
He faces four criminal counts: narco-terrorism, cocaine importation conspiracy and possession of machine guns and destructive devices.
Mr Maduro has long denied the allegations, saying they were a mask for imperialist designs on Venezuela's rich oil reserves.
US President Donald Trump has made no secret of wanting to share in Venezuela's oil riches.
US oil companies' shares have jumped, fuelled by the prospect of access to those vast reserves.
While world leaders and US politicians grappled with the extraordinary seizure of a head of state, an emergency order in Venezuela, published in full today, ordered police to search and capture anyone who supported Saturday's US attack.
At the United Nations, the Security Council debated the implications of the raid, which was condemned by Russia, China and leftist allies of Venezuela.
UN chief Antonio Guterres raised concerns about instability in Venezuela and the legality of The US' strike, the most dramatic US intervention in Latin America since the 1989 Panama invasion.
US Special Forces swooped into Caracas by helicopter on Saturday, shattered his security cordon and dragged him from the threshold of a safe room.
Maduro and his wife appear, plead not guilty
This morning, Mr Maduro - his hands zip-tied - and his wife were escorted by armed guards in tactical gear from a Brooklyn detention centre to a helicopter bound for the Manhattan federal court.
The judge began the hearing at 12.02pm local time by summarising the charges in the indictment.
Shackled at the ankles and wearing orange and beige prison garb, Mr Maduro listened on headphones through an interpreter.
Judge Hellerstein asked Mr Maduro to stand and confirm his identity. He replied in Spanish.
The judge told the couple of their right to inform the Venezuelan consulate of their arrests.
Prosecutors say Mr Maduro has been involved in drug trafficking from the time he began serving in Venezuela's National Assembly in 2000 to his tenure as foreign minister and subsequent 2013 election as the late president Hugo Chavez's successor.
Maduro lawyer predicts legal fight over 'military abduction'
Mr Maduro's lawyer Barry Pollack said he anticipated voluminous and complex litigation over what he called his client's "military abduction."
He said Mr Maduro was not requesting his release, but may later.
Ms Flores's lawyer, Mark Donnelly, said she sustained significant injuries including severe bruising on her ribs and asked that she be provided X-rays and a physical evaluation.
Federal prosecutors in New York first indicted Mr Maduro in 2020 as part of a long-running narcotics trafficking case against current and former Venezuelan officials and Colombian guerrillas.
An updated indictment made public on Saturday added some new details and co-defendants, including Ms Flores.
The US has considered Mr Maduro an illegitimate dictator since he declared victory in a 2018 election marred by allegations of massive irregularities.
Experts in international law have questioned the legality of the raid, with some condemning Mr Trump's actions as a repudiation of a rules-based international order.
Trump asserts oil aspirations
In Caracas, senior officials from Mr Maduro's 13-year-old government remain in charge of the South American oil producer of 30 million people, alternating between spitting defiance and possible cooperation with the Trump administration.
American oil companies will return to Venezuela and rebuild the sector's infrastructure, Mr Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday.
"We're taking back what they stole," Mr Trump said. "We're in charge."
However, four oil industry executives said the Trump administration did not consult major US companies Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), ConocoPhillips (COP.N) or Chevron Corp (CVX.N), before or after US forces seized Mr Maduro.
US oil executives were expected to meet Trump administration officials on the Venezuela plan, an oil industry source said today.
Venezuela has the world's largest reserves - about 303 billion barrels - but the sector has long been in decline from mismanagement, under-investment and US sanctions, averaging 1.1 million bpd output last year, a third of its 1970s heyday.
Mr Trump has threatened another strike if Venezuela does not cooperate with opening its oil industry and stopping drugs.
Close to 200 US military personnel entered the Venezuelan capital Caracas as part of the operation to seize Mr Maduro and his wife, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said today.
Watch: Trump says US was 'ready for second wave' of strikes
Just how the US would work with a post-Maduro government, full of sworn ideological enemies, is unclear.
Mr Trump appears to have sidelined, for now, the Venezuelan opposition, where many anti-Maduro activists had assumed this would be their moment.
Ms Rodriguez's brother, Jorge Rodriguez, was reappointed president of the overwhelmingly pro-Maduro National Assembly.
He pledged "to use all procedures, forums and spaces" to bring Mr Maduro back.
