President Donald Trump on Tuesday unveiled a plan to refine and sell up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil that had been stuck in Venezuela under U.S. blockade, in a further sign that Washington is coordinating with the Venezuelan government since capturing President Nicolas Maduro.

Maduro is in a New York jail awaiting drug charges after the Saturday morning raid that the U.S. estimates killed about 75 people, according to a Washington Post report citing officials familiar with the matter, Reuters reported.

The U.S. has yet to report a death toll from an operation that reasserted U.S. willingness to intervene in Latin America with perhaps its most dramatic military operation since the 1989 invasion of Panama that seized Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega.

Nor has Caracas given a number for those killed, but the army posted a list of 23 names of its dead. Venezuelan officials have said a large part of Maduro’s security contingent was killed “in cold blood,” and Cuba has said 32 members of its military and intelligence services in Venezuela were killed. Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez on Tuesday declared a week of mourning for members of the military killed in the raid.

The operation brought condemnation from Russia, China and Venezuela’s leftist allies, while allies of the United States have urged adherence to international law.

Maduro, 63, pleaded not guilty on Monday to narcotics charges. He said he was a “decent man” and still president of Venezuela, while standing in a Manhattan court shackled at the ankles and wearing orange and beige prison garb.

US TO TAKE VENEZUELAN OIL

While Venezuela’s political future remains uncertain amid U.S. claims that it will be running the South American country, for now Trump appears to be working with Rodriguez and other senior officials from Maduro’s government, disappointing the opposition that had hoped to play a larger role.

Trump on social media announced that Venezuela would sell 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil that would be shipped directly to the United States under a plan to be executed immediately by Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

“This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!” Trump said. Based on recent prices for Venezuelan oil, the deal could be worth up to $1.9 billion.

U.S. officials have yet to outline a legal framework for seizing Venezuelan oil, though the U.S. has accused Venezuelan tankers of breaking U.S. sanctions to ship Iranian and Venezuelan oil.

Trump has also suggested the U.S. would help rebuild the country’s oil infrastructure to benefit oil majors such as Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips which were affected by a Venezuelan oil nationalization by former President Hugo Chavez, and Chevron Corp which has continued to operate there.

U.S. oil chief executives are expected to visit the White House as early as Thursday to discuss investments in Venezuela, according to three sources familiar with the planning.

VENEZUELA OPPOSITION SEEKS ROLE

With the U.S. as its main ally, Venezuela would become the energy hub of the Americas, restore the rule of law, open markets and bring home exiles, opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado said in an interview on Monday with Fox News.

Trump has, however, been told by the CIA that Rodriguez and other senior officials from Maduro’s government are the best bet to maintain stability, sources said. The classified assessment was one reason why Trump decided to back Rodriguez instead of opposition leader Machado, the sources said.

Machado, who said she wants to return to Venezuela to lead the country, said Rodriguez was “nothing like a moderate,” and had been one of the main architects of Venezuelan repression.

“I think it’s evident the United States has instructed her to take certain actions regarding further dismantling of the criminal structure as a path forward towards a complete transition to democracy in Venezuela,” Machado told CBS News in a separate interview on Tuesday.

The Trump administration has put hardline Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello on notice that he could be at the top of its target list unless he helps Rodriguez meet U.S. demands and keep order, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Cabello, who controls security forces accused of widespread human rights abuses, is one of a handful of Maduro loyalists that Trump has decided to rely on as temporary rulers to maintain stability during a transition period, said one source briefed on the administration’s thinking. Cabello has been on the streets of Venezuela, patrolling with security forces.

“Always loyal, never traitors. Doubt is betrayal!” they chanted in one of several overnight social media posts by the Venezuelan government.

The U.S. is also pressuring the interim Venezuelan government to expel official advisers from China, Russia, Cuba and Iran, the New York Times reported, citing anonymous U.S. officials. Secretary of State Marco Rubio listed the Trump administration’s demands in a classified meeting on Monday with senior congressional leaders, the Times said. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Since the seizure of Maduro, Venezuelan authorities have ordered the arrest of anyone who collaborated.

Fourteen media workers were briefly detained covering events in Caracas on Monday, and shots were fired on Monday night into the sky above the city, which a Venezuelan official said came from police to deter unauthorized drones.

“There was no confrontation, the entire country remains completely calm,” Vice Minister of Communications Simon Arrechider told reporters.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres raised concerns on Monday about greater instability in Venezuela after the U.S. capture of President Nicolas Maduro, while the United States said it does not plan to occupy the Latin American country.

The 15-member Security Council met at U.N. headquarters in New York just hours before Maduro was due to appear in a Manhattan federal court on drug charges including narco-terrorism conspiracy. Maduro has denied any criminal involvement, Reuters reported.

“I am deeply concerned about the possible intensification of instability in the country, the potential impact on the region, and the precedent it may set for how relations between and among states are conducted,” Guterres said in a statement delivered to the council by U.N. political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo.

NO OCCUPATION

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz told the Security Council the United States carried out “a surgical law enforcement operation facilitated by the U.S. military against two indicted fugitives of American justice,” referring to Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.

“As Secretary (of State Marco) Rubio has said, there is no war against Venezuela or its people. We are not occupying a country,” said Waltz, as he laid out the U.S. case against Maduro at the Security Council.

“We’re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be used as a base of operation for our nation’s adversaries,” Waltz said. “You cannot continue to have the largest energy reserves in the world under the control of adversaries of the United States, under the control of illegitimate leaders, and not benefiting the people of Venezuela.”

Venezuela’s U.N. Ambassador Samuel Moncada called the U.S. operation to capture Maduro “an illegitimate armed attack lacking any legal justification.” Moncada told the council that Venezuelan institutions are functioning normally, constitutional order has been preserved, and the state exercises effective control over all of its territory.

Guterres called on all Venezuelan actors to engage in an inclusive and democratic dialogue, adding: “I welcome and am ready to support all efforts aimed at assisting Venezuelans in finding a peaceful way forward.”

INTERNATIONAL LAW

Guterres also expressed concern that the U.S. operation to capture Maduro in Caracas on Saturday did not respect the rules of international law. The U.N. Charter states that members “shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.”

The United States has cited Article 51 of the U.N. Charter, which says that nothing “shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a member of the United Nations.”

Russia, China and Colombia condemned the U.S. military operation as illegal. Most remaining council members did not directly criticize the United States and instead stated the importance of abiding by international law and the U.N. Charter.

“Unintelligible murmurings and attempts to avoid principled assessments by those who in other circumstances froth at the mouth and demand that others respect the U.N. Charter today seem particularly hypocritical and unseemly,” said Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia.

Russia has been denounced by the United Nations for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

China drew comparisons to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and more recent attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“The lessons of history offer a stark warning,” said Sun Lei, the charge d’affaires of China’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations. “Military means are not the solution to problems, and the indiscriminate use of force will only lead to greater crises.”

Colombia, which requested Monday’s meeting, condemned the U.S. operation as a clear violation of the sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity of Venezuela. Russia, China and Venezuela called on the United States to release Maduro and his wife.

The United States cannot be held accountable by the U.N. Security Council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, for any such violation. The United States wields a veto – along with Russia, China, Britain and France – so it can block any action.

Shackled at the ankles and dressed in prison garb, toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stood before a U.S. judge on Monday and declared he was still his country’s rightful leader as he faced charges that could put him behind bars for life.

“I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country,” Maduro said through an interpreter, his voice rising before Judge Alvin Hellerstein cut him off, Reuters reported.

The 63-year-old, captured days earlier in a dramatic U.S. military raid, wore orange slippers, beige pants and layered black and orange shirts. He scribbled notes on a legal pad while lawyers discussed what promises to be a bruising legal fight.

He faces four U.S. federal criminal counts that include narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy and possession of machine guns and destructive devices. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

His lawyer Barry Pollack told Hellerstein that he expects extensive litigation over the legality of Maduro’s “military abduction.”

Maduro’s wife Cilia Flores also pleaded not guilty. She faces the same charges except for narco-terrorism. The next court date was set for March 17.

The U.S. has deemed Maduro an illegitimate dictator since he declared victory in a 2018 election marred by allegations of massive irregularities. His capture marks Washington’s most controversial intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama 37 years ago.

Two groups of protesters — supporters of Maduro and those backing his ouster — argued outside the courthouse on Monday.

“We are outraged at what the U.S. has done to the head, the duly-elected head of Venezuela,” said Sherry Finkelman, 80, a retired teacher.

Alejandro Rojas, a 51-year-old data scientist who moved to the U.S. from Venezuela in 2017, said he hoped to return soon with Maduro gone.

“It’s so emotional, just being able to reconnect with family, being able to have a country back again,” Rojas said.

Maduro was first indicted in 2020 as part of a long-running narcotics trafficking case against Venezuelan officials and Colombian guerrillas. He was being held at a Brooklyn jail with a troubled history.

In a new indictment unsealed on Saturday, prosecutors allege that Maduro is the kingpin of a cartel of Venezuelan officials that has partnered with some of the world’s most violent and prolific drug trafficking groups, including Mexico’s Sinaloa and Zetas cartels, the Colombian paramilitary group FARC and the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

“As Venezuela’s President and now de-facto ruler, Maduro allows cocaine-fueled corruption to flourish for his own benefit, for the benefit of members of his ruling regime, and for the benefit of his family members,” according to the indictment filed by prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.

Prosecutors allege that as president, Maduro directed cocaine trafficking routes, used the military to protect shipments, sheltered violent trafficking groups and used presidential facilities to move drugs.

Legal experts said prosecutors will need to show evidence of Maduro’s direct involvement in drug trafficking to secure a conviction, which could prove difficult if he insulated himself from decision-making.