America at war with cartels not Venezuela, claims Rubio

America is at war with drug cartels, not with Venezuela, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has insisted, as military leaders in

- REBECCA WHITTAKER

Caracas demand the release of Nicolas Maduro.

The Venezuelan president was captured in a dramatic US operation in the early hours of Saturday, with at least seven explosions and low-flying aircraft reported over the capital, before Donald Trump confirmed that elite Delta operatives had detained Mr Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

They were later transported aboard the USS Iwo Jima to New York.

In a video posted by the White House yesterday, Mr Maduro was shown being led down a hallway, handcuffed and flanked by agents inside the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Manhattan offices.

Mr Maduro and Ms Flores are now being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and are expected to appear before a federal judge in Manhattan today, charged with narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, and conspiracy to possess machine guns.