NEW YORK, March 13 - Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro should not be able to use Venezuelan government funds to defend himself against U.S. drug trafficking charges, U.S. prosecutors said on Friday, noting that Washington has not considered him the legitimate leader of the South American country for years.

Last month, Maduro's lawyer Barry Pollack urged U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein to dismiss the indictment against Maduro because the Treasury Department had without explanation revoked an exemption to U.S. financial sanctions on Venezuela that had allowed the South American country's government to fund his defense.

Pollack argued that the revocation interfered with Maduro's right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

He said that "Venezuelan law and custom" dictate that the government pay the expenses of the president and his wife. An official in Venezuela's attorney general's office said in a court filing last month that the government was prepared to pay.

In urging Hellerstein not to dismiss the indictment, prosecutors with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office on Friday said the initial exemption was an "administrative error."

The prosecutors said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, would still be allowed to use their personal funds for their defense. Flores' lawyer, Mark Donnelly, had also asked Hellerstein to dismiss charges against her over the funding of her defense.

"While both defendants claim that they are entitled to funds under the Venezuelan constitution ... both defendants also surely knew that the U.S. Government did not consider them to hold legitimate positions," prosecutors wrote, noting that one purpose of the U.S. sanctions was to drive Maduro and Flores from power.

The Venezuelan communications ministry, which handles all press queries for the government, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Maduro and Flores were captured on January 3 in a U.S. military raid on their Caracas home. Both have pleaded not guilty and are jailed in Brooklyn pending trial.