MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Nicolas Maduro, the ousted president of Venezuela, pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges in a U.S. federal court in Manhattan today. In a brief appearance, Maduro told the judge, quote, "I'm innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man." Just two days earlier, Maduro was captured in a U.S. military raid in Caracas, bringing an end to his nearly 13 years in power. As John Otis reports, Maduro was an accidental president who led Venezuela into disaster.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
NICOLAS MADURO: (Speaking Spanish).
JOHN OTIS, BYLINE: That's Nicolas Maduro being sworn in as president in 2013, following the death of Hugo Chavez, the founder of Venezuela's socialist revolution. Maduro had been Chavez's vice president and closest adviser.
ANDRES IZARRA: Maduro is a very outgoing guy. He makes jokes all the time.
OTIS: That's Andres Izarra, who served for two years as Maduro's tourism minister. But he notes that Maduro lacked Chavez's leadership skills and that to maintain power he became more authoritarian. Maduro even joked about his resemblance to one of the world's most notorious dictators.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MADURO: (Speaking Spanish).
(LAUGHTER)
OTIS: "Sometimes when I look in the mirror, I see Stalin," he quipped in this 2017 broadcast.
Maduro had previously worked as a bus driver and union activist before jumping into politics. He had no formal training in economics, and it quickly showed, says John Polga-Hecimovich, a Venezuela scholar at the U.S. Naval Academy.
JOHN POLGA-HECIMOVICH: He's someone who oversaw the complete destruction of the economy.
OTIS: Under Maduro, government corruption and mismanagement followed by U.S. sanctions caused Venezuela's vital oil industry to collapse. That drove up poverty and led to widespread food shortages. The government printed more money, but that spurred hyperinflation. Eventually, one-quarter of the Venezuelan population fled the country in what's considered the largest exodus in modern Latin American history. Many of those who stayed behind took to the streets in protest.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Singing in non-English language).
OTIS: But Maduro responded with massive military crackdowns. Opponents were jailed and sometimes tortured. The International Criminal Court opened an investigation against the Maduro regime for crimes against humanity. He stayed in power in part through fraud-marred elections.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MADURO: (Speaking Spanish).
(CHEERING)
OTIS: Here's Maduro claiming victory in the 2024 presidential election, despite widespread evidence that the opposition won by an overwhelming margin. Javier Corrales, a Venezuela expert at Amherst College, says Maduro also gave massive perks to the military, promoted businesses loyal to his government and used a shadow fleet of tankers to skirt U.S. oil sanctions.
JAVIER CORRALES: The survival of Maduro and the skills that he deployed in order to stay in office will be studied, I think, in years to come.
OTIS: But in his second term, President Trump turned up the pressure. He accused Maduro of drug trafficking and of stealing U.S. oil assets. He sent warships to the Caribbean and warned Maduro to step down or face the consequences. Yet, in some of his last public appearances, Maduro joked and sang along to John Lennon's "Imagine" in garbled English.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MADURO: (Singing) Imagine there us (ph) people
(CHEERING)
MADURO: (Laughter).
OTIS: In the end, Izarra, the former tourism minister who broke with Maduro 10 years ago, says Maduro may have been betrayed by someone on the inside, paving the way for the dramatic overnight snatch operation. He now has only scorn for his former boss.
IZARRA: What is his legacy? We have become an American protectorate thanks to Maduro. We are the new Puerto Rico.
OTIS: Trump now says that the U.S. is in charge, and he has warned interim president Delcy Rodriguez that if she doesn't cooperate she'll face a fate worse than Maduro's.
For NPR News, I'm John Otis. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.