The recent appearance of Nicolás Maduro in New York courts, following a capture that seems straight out of the annals of the most brutal geopolitics, has taken an unexpected turn that transcends mere criminal defense. By formally invoking the Third Geneva Convention, the captured leader has executed a manoeuvre of dazzling legal sophistication, designed to undermine the architecture of the process against him. This is not an act of desperation, but a move of political judo: Maduro uses the very strength of his captor – the military nature of his apprehension – to force a paradigm shift. If he was extracted by a special forces operation and transferred under military custody, the logic of his defense is implacable: we are not dealing with a police arrest for ordinary crimes, but with the capture of a Commander-in-Chief on the battlefield, which grants him the status of a Prisoner of War.