Maduro’s coming legal fight likely to echo that of Panama’s Manuel Noriega

When abducted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro makes his first appearance in a New York courtroom later today, he will likely follow the path taken by another Latin American strongman toppled by U.S. forces: Panama’s Manuel Noriega. Maduro was captured Saturday, 36 years to the day after Noriega was removed by American forces. And as was the case with the Panamanian leader, lawyers for Maduro are expected to contest the legality of his arrest, arguing that he is immune from prosecution as a sovereign head of a foreign state, which is a bedrock principle of international and US law. It’s an argument that is unlikely to succeed and was largely settled as a matter of law in Noriega’s trial, legal experts told the Associated Press.