Venezuela's jailed President Nicolas Maduro faces a long legal journey in New York after US forces captured him and his wife during a military raid in Caracas on January 3.
Two days later and 3,500km further north, Mr Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, made their first court appearances, pleading not guilty to the charges the US government has levelled against them.
Here, we take a look at those charges and what happens next:
Criminal charges
According to the indictment against Mr Maduro, he and his wife, along with other Venezuelan leaders, have “abused their positions of public trust and corrupted once-legitimate institutions to import tonnes of cocaine into the United States”.
A US federal indictment contains four criminal counts: narco-terrorism conspiracy; cocaine importation conspiracy; possession of machineguns and destructive devices; and a final charge of conspiracy to possess machineguns and destructive devices.
The indictment alleges that Mr Maduro and his allies “provided law enforcement cover and logistical support” to major drug-trafficking groups, such as the Sinaloa Cartel and Tren de Aragua gang. These criminal organisations sent profits to high-ranking officials who protected them in exchange, the Justice Department said.
Among other specific acts, Mr Maduro is accused of selling Venezuelan diplomatic passports to known drug traffickers and facilitating flights under diplomatic cover to bring drug proceeds from Mexico to Venezuela.
The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York first returned an indictment against Mr Maduro in 2020, with the same four charges. Ms Flores, meanwhile, is accused of ordering kidnappings and killings, as well as accepting bribes in 2007 to arrange a meeting between drug traffickers and the director of Venezuela’s National Anti-Drug Office.
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Captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrives at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport. Reuters -
Mr Maduro is in the US after being captured by US forces during a military operation in Venezuela. Reuters -
US security troops lead Mr Maduro from the heliport. He has been president of Venezuela since 2013. Reuters -
Mr Maduro being moved from a vehicle to a helicopter. Reuters -
Demonstrators hold signs in support of Mr Maduro outside the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in New York. AFP -
US security forces patrol near the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse, where Mr Maduro was due to appear. Reuters -
The courthouse in New York City. The US has long accused the Venezuelan government of crimes including drug trafficking. Reuters -
A motorcade thought to be carrying Mr Maduro departs from the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn. Bloomberg
What happens next?
It could be months or even more than a year before Mr Maduro stands trial. Prosecutors could eventually offer a plea deal to avoid a trial.
Mr Maduro's case will be overseen by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, a 92-year-old appointee of Bill Clinton who has presided over cases including litigation after the 9/11 attacks. He set the next court hearing for March 17 at 11am ET.
He has appeared sceptical of other moves by Donald Trump's administration and previously rejected efforts to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members under the Alien Enemies Act, saying the wartime law had been improperly invoked by the government.
Where will Maduro be jailed?
Mr Maduro and his wife are being held in a Brooklyn jail where they probably will be confined to a cell 23 hours a day, conditions that former inmates Sean “Diddy” Combs and Ghislaine Maxwell had called inhumane.
The Metropolitan Detention Centre has been plagued by what inmates and defence lawyers say are unsanitary conditions. Maxwell, who was held there before her 2021 conviction for helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls, complained of raw sewage and vermin faeces in her cell.
It is a far cry from the luxurious trappings of the Miraflores Palace presidential compound in Caracas.
Luigi Mangione, who pleaded not guilty to killing a UnitedHealth Group executive, is currently housed there awaiting trial. It is likely that Mr Maduro and his wife will be kept away from the jail's general population.
What is Maduro's defence?
Mr Maduro is likely to seek a dismissal of the case on the grounds that he is immune, or shielded, from criminal prosecution because he is a foreign head of state. But the Trump administration has long asserted that he stole the 2024 election so was not a legitimate president.
Mr Maduro also faces a historic precedent thanks to the 1989 US invasion of Panama that ousted the country's leader, Manuel Noriega. US courts rejected his immunity argument, showing deference to the US government's assertion that he was not Panama's legitimate leader.
Like Mr Maduro, Noriega was accused of conspiring to smuggle drugs into the US and was captured in a military raid in his home country. Noriega spent the rest of his life in prison, first in the US, then France and finally Panama, where he died in 2017, aged 83.
Federal conspiracy charges generally have a five-year statute of limitations, meaning charges must be brought within five years of the alleged crime's completion, but there are some exceptions.
