New York, January 5 -- Nicolás Maduro appeared before the U.S. justice system, represented by David Wikstrom, a federal defender appointed by the court. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been under sanctions for years, which makes it illegal for any American attorney to receive money from them without a special license from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Maduro's defense, which will have the same rights as any defendant in the U.S., is expected to focus on challenging the legality of the arrest based on sovereign immunity as a head of state. Additionally, the attorney has family ties to the local justice system, as he is the father of Derek Wikstrom, one of the prosecutors in the case against the former mayor of New York. The appointment of a public defender is explained, in part, by the economic sanctions. The choice of this lawyer did not go unnoticed: Wikstrom was the attorney for the brother of Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras, who was convicted for similar crimes to those now attributed to Maduro. According to information from the Argentine News Agency, the previous client of Wikstrom has a key particularity in this political context: according to reports, this defendant was later pardoned by Donald Trump. This strategy was already used unsuccessfully by the Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega in 1990. Movie-like transfer: helicopter and a limp The operation to transfer Maduro from the Brooklyn jail to the Manhattan courthouse was cinematic and swift: At 7:15 a.m., a convoy left for a sports field, where Maduro boarded a helicopter that crossed the port of New York. He landed at a Manhattan heliport and was loaded into an armored vehicle to enter the courthouse garage. Witnesses noted that the deposed leader walked with a 'limp' during the transfer. Who is David Wikstrom, Nicolás Maduro's lawyer? David Wikstrom is a federal criminal attorney based in New York, known for handling complex extradition and international criminal defense cases. He has represented high-profile figures linked to drug trafficking, including the brother of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández.
