Maduro taken to US courthouse for first appearance on drug-trafficking charges

An armoured vehicle carrying Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores (Stefan Jeremiah/AP)

Deposed Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro is set to make his first appearance in an American courtroom on the narco-terrorism charges the Trump administration used to justify capturing him and bringing him to New York.

Maduro and his wife are expected to appear at noon before a judge for a brief, but required, legal proceeding that will likely kick off a prolonged legal fight over whether he can be put on trial in the US.