Maduro Releases First Photos From Brooklyn Jail Cell
Nicolás Maduro released the first images of himself since his January capture by US forces — two photographs from a Brooklyn jail showing him notably thinner in a grey tracksuit, flashing peace signs. “We are standing firm, with our hearts full of your love,” he posted on Telegram. He and his wife face drug-trafficking charges with a trial set for June 2027. The photos surfaced as President Trump said America’s strategic petroleum reserve will be refilled with Venezuelan oil under the new deal.
The timing is the message: within a day of Washington announcing control over a fifth of Venezuela’s oil, the man who ruled it for a decade reminds the world he exists — alive, defiant, and awaiting an American trial that will put the invasion’s legality on the record whether prosecutors wish it or not. The photographs’ metadata, dating them to June, suggests a card held and played deliberately. For Venezuelans the split screen is stark: their ex-president posting from Brooklyn while the interim government signs century-long concessions and Mr Trump talks of topping up the SPR with their crude. Energy experts doubt the barrels will flow as advertised; the courtroom, though, is guaranteed. Watch the pre-trial motions — and who in Caracas visibly benefits from the deal’s first payments.