Venezuela's Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto on Monday demanded the immediate release of Nicolas Maduro, who was ousted as president in a January 3 raid by the United States, AFP reported.
Maduro, who autocratically ruled Venezuela between March 2013 and his capture by US forces, is in custody in New York along with his wife, awaiting trial.
Maduro, 63, has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges and declared that he was a "prisoner of war".
Addressing the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Gil demanded "the immediate release by the government of the United States of America of the constitutional president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro Moros, and his wife, the first lady Cilia Flores".
"January 3, 2026, marked a turning point of extreme gravity," Gil told the top UN rights body.
"An illegal military action against our country resulted in the deaths of more than 100 people, and the arbitrary detention" of Maduro and his wife, Gil said.
"Despite this action, carried out in a context of profound technological and military asymmetry between our country and the nuclear power of the United States ... we have chosen to open a diplomatic channel to resolve our differences with that country," he said.
"Not through submission, but in the sovereign equality of states. Not through fear, but with the conviction that dialogue is the only civilised path between nations."
Follow the latest news on Google News
