White House says US not involved in gunfire
In the meantime, the White House said the US is not involved after gunfire and drones were reported near Venezuela's presidential palace.
During the past 45 minutes, heavy gunfire was heard in Caracas, including near the presidential palace. Possible drone or aircraft noises have also been reported. Some areas are without power. However, there's no word from the authorities on what's happening right now.
Videos show lights from drones and anti-aircraft fire across night sky
Various videos shared on social media showed lights from drones and anti-aircraft fire across the night sky. Unidentified drones flew over the Miraflores palace in central Caracas and security forces opened fire in response around 8:00 pm. The development comes hours after Maduro's deputy Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in as interim president following his removal.
Maduro, handcuffed and flanked by armed federal agents, stepped off a helicopter in New York City on Monday. He had spent the night in a federal jail in Brooklyn before being transported to a Manhattan courthouse to face criminal charges.
Delcy Rodriguez takes oath as interim president of Venezuela
Earlier in the day, Delcy Rodriguez, who served as vice president to Nicolas Maduro and has vowed to work with the Trump administration, was sworn in as interim president of Venezuela in the country's parliament building.
Rodriguez was sworn in by her brother, National Assembly leader Jorge Rodriguez. “I come with sorrow for the suffering inflicted upon the Venezuelan people following an illegitimate military aggression against our homeland,” she said with her right hand up. “I come with sorrow for the kidnapping of two heroes.”
Meanwhile, a defiant Nicolás Maduro declared himself "the president of my country” as he protested his capture and pleaded not guilty on Monday to the federal drug trafficking charges that the Trump administration used to justify removing him from power in Venezuela.
Maduro pleads not guilty, says he was captured
“I was captured,” Maduro said in Spanish as translated by a courtroom reporter before being cut off by the judge. Asked later for his plea to the charges, he stated: "I'm innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the president of my country.”
The courtroom appearance, Maduro's first since he and his wife were seized from their home in a stunning middle-of-the-night military operation, kicks off the US government's most consequential prosecution in decades of a foreign head of state.
The criminal case in Manhattan is unfolding against a broader diplomatic backdrop of an audacious US-engineered regime change that President Donald Trump has said will enable his administration to “run” the South American country.
Maduro was led into court along with his co-defendant wife just before noon for the brief legal proceeding. Both put on headsets to hear the English-language proceeding as it was translated into Spanish. The couple was transported to the Manhattan courthouse under armed guard early Monday from the Brooklyn jail where they've been detained since arriving in the US on Saturday.
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Toppled Venezuelan President Maduro pleads not guilty in US court, next hearing on March 17
