[00:00:00] Speaker 1: With Venezuela and President Nicolás Maduro now in U.S. custody facing federal charges, President Trump has made clear he has big plans for U.S. energy companies taking control of Venezuela's rich oil supply. Venezuela has some of the largest proven oil reserves in the world, though it only accounts for about one percent of the world's oil production.

[00:00:22] Speaker 2: Venezuela right now is a dead country. We have to bring it back and we're going to have to have big investments by the oil companies to bring back the infrastructure. And the oil companies are ready to go. They're going to go in, they're going to rebuild the infrastructure. The oil is just flowing at a very low level, much lower than, even if it was badly run, it should have more income, more oil than what they're doing. So we're going to have the big oil companies go in and they're going to fix the infrastructure and they're going to invest money. Right now what we want to do is fix up the oil, fix up the country, bring the country back and then have elections.

[00:00:57] Speaker 1: CNN's Brian Todd joins us now with a closer look. Brian, obviously a very resource-rich country.

[00:01:02] Speaker 3: Yes. I mean, look at this, Boris. The largest oil reserves in the world by far, 303 million barrels. The next closest to them is Saudi Arabia with like, I think, 267 billion barrels. They just, they outnumber everyone in that resource by a lot. They have one fifth of the world's global reserves. And to let you kind of give some perspective here on how they're underperforming with that vast oil reserve, take a look at this. This is their oil production since Nicolas Maduro took power in 2013. You see it there. Now, before that, and like even before Hugo Chavez took power in 1999, they were producing more than 3 million barrels, about 3.5 million barrels per day before Hugo Chavez takes power in 1999. Okay. It goes steadily down in the 2000s because of sanctions and other things. Maduro takes power in 2013. Now, oil prices take a hit the next year. So, that's part of the reason that they decline. But it's also, of course, his alleged mismanagement of the oil supply and a lot of other factors. Sanctions also play a part. Now, in 2019, that is the year that Donald Trump, in his first administration, placed restrictions on Venezuelan oil exports to the U.S. So, that hit them hard. It went down then. They hit rock bottom in 2020 with the pandemic. In 2021, Maduro starts to kind of ramp up the production a little bit. In 2022, then-President Joe Biden gives Chevron a temporary permit to operate there. So, that helps their production. But again, Boris, take a look. They're still underperforming. As of 2024, they were less than a million barrels a day. Right now, they're a little over 1 million barrels a day. They're right about at this point here, and that is less than 1% of the world's production. That's how much Venezuela is underperforming, given their reserves there. Who are they sending the oil to? Let's take a look at that. If my graphic can come up here. It's not coming up. But basically, they're sending it to mostly to China. China buys about 70% of Venezuela's oil. The U.S. buys about 25% of it. That's all due to Chevron's production there.

[00:03:01] Speaker 1: I think, there we go. There you go.

[00:03:02] Speaker 3: There's our graphic. Yeah, right. So, yeah, China's the big, they're the big customer. U.S. gets about a quarter of it. Then, Spain and Cuba trail far behind. This is all due to Chevron. And, you know, Chevron, their stock is way up today as a result of this. And Boris, it has taken a massive toll on the economy overall. Take a look at that. Last October, inflation in Venezuela was at 270%. That is by far the highest in the world. And look at where it's projected to be in October of this year. And again, all because of the mismanagement and the alleged corruption of Hugo Chavez first and Nicolas Maduro, his acolyte, who became president in 2013.

[00:03:38] Speaker 1: Brian Todd, thank you so much for bringing us that context.

[00:03:41] Speaker 4: CNN's Omar Jimenez and Laura Coates joining us now from live outside the court. You were both in the courtroom. So, Laura, walk us through, first of all, what you saw, what you heard in those moments.

[00:03:53] Speaker 5: What an extraordinary moment. Nicolas Maduro appearing in a Manhattan courtroom with his wife, proclaiming to still be the president of Venezuela. And she, the first lady. They had on headsets to have translation available to them. They spoke in Spanish. And at the first available opportunity for Nicolas Maduro to address the court, essentially to say his name, he said instead that he was a prisoner of war, that he was, in fact, Nicolas Maduro Moro, that he had been taken from his home, captured from his home, the judge interrupting him to say that there would be time to talk about the legality of his taking, as well as any motions he wanted to raise. But, for now, I just want to know if you, in fact, are Nicolas Maduro Moro. He said that he was, and also that he was innocent and had not committed any of these crimes. He was almost stoic, Omar, as you saw him in there. He was very, very confident and self-assured. His he had some difficulty sitting down in his chair, having to brace himself continuously when he would try to sit down. You note when he was walking on that, it really was kind of a perp walk with a helipad. His left leg appeared to be straighter than the other, and he was moving with difficulty. That appeared to be present as he tried to sit in the chair. His wife, meanwhile, they said that she had obvious visible injuries. They addressed, you could see her, bandages, some kind of a gash or stitching on her eye, also on her temple. And also they referenced that she had some sort of fractured or bruised ribs as well. Her demeanor, much less confident than her husband's, far more demure, spoke after they did. And they exchanged glances at different points in time. He had one request. He did not want to have bail discussed right now. That's coming. But he did want to have his notes. He took copious notes, Omar. You were watching intently as well. When you were watching this take place, weren't you struck by the way this all proceeded?

[00:05:41] Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, just the confidence of Maduro, as you mentioned, when truly you pay attention to any trials like this, you know, the judge asks you plead guilty or not guilty. And usually the attorney even just speaks for the defendant and just says not guilty. That was the opportunity that Maduro used to go out and say that I am the constitutional president of Venezuela, that he believes his rights have been violated, talking about the abduction aspect, saying he was kidnapped from his home in Caracas, and launched into that in Spanish, as the interpreter kept up with that as well. When his wife began to speak, you sort of mentioned the dynamic between both of them. There was a moment where the judge asked if they understood the interpretation, and he sort of spoke for both of them and said, yes, we understand. And then she, of course, spoke in after that as well. You mentioned the medical issues. That was something that the defense asked of the judge to make sure that they had proper care to take care of some of those issues, because, clearly, she seemed to be struggling in some way, whether it was swaying a little bit, as was relayed by one of our team members. Dipping her head at different times. Dipping her head at different points. And then, of course, as you mentioned, Maduro appearing to struggle to stand up and sit down at points.

[00:06:53] Speaker 5: But there was a moment they asked for the consular.

[00:06:55] Speaker 6: Yes, there was a moment they asked for essentially what is afforded typically to either heads of state or folks that are coming in from other countries, that they have the ability to consult with the Venezuelan consular in this case. And they said that that is something they are going to pick up and going and intend to use prior to this next March 17 date that was set, because there's so much discovery to go through. And then there was that moment at the end.

[00:07:17] Speaker 5: Well, there is. And before we get there, though, there's also the idea, March 17 is the next time they're going to be in court. They have agreed to waive their speedy trial rights until that time. Remember, if you are in the custody of the American government as a part of the justice system, you are entitled to speedy trials. They have waived that until March 17 to address not only voluminous motions, including immunity claims as a head of state, which may or may not be granted, but also the idea of having all the discovery. And finally, there was a protester at the end, which our own news associate who was there to witness as well. Gordon Evac saw standing up, addressing and confronting Maduro, saying you will pay for what you have done. Maduro, in turn, looked at him, pointed to the sky, said he was a man of God and was the president of the Republic of Venezuela.

[00:08:10] Speaker 1: Incredible color from inside the courtroom. Laura Coates, Omar Jimenez, thank you so much for that update.