Maduro, Wife Face New US Charges Over Alleged Torture of Americans in Venezuela

Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are expected to face new charges in New York over allegations that Americans detained in Venezuela were tortured while in government custody.

People familiar with the investigation said prosecutors could announce the charges as soon as Thursday. Investigators are also considering charges against several other individuals allegedly involved in the mistreatment of US citizens.

The case centres on more than a dozen Americans who were detained in Venezuelan prisons during Maduro’s rule. US authorities and human rights advocates have accused the Venezuelan government of using some of the detainees as political leverage.

Maduro and Flores were captured during a US military raid on the Venezuelan presidential palace in Caracas in January. They have pleaded not guilty to existing charges, including narcoterrorism conspiracy, and are being held without bail in New York.

Flores is expected to appear in court on Thursday, when her lawyer plans to ask that she be placed under house arrest while awaiting trial. Lawyers representing Maduro, meanwhile, are challenging the legality of his arrest and arguing that he should have immunity because the alleged conduct occurred while he was president.

Prosecutors have said the Venezuelan government is not asserting immunity on Maduro’s behalf. CNN said it contacted lawyers for both Maduro and Flores for comment.

Several former detainees have publicly described alleged torture during their imprisonment. Matthew Heath and Osman Khan, who were released in a prisoner exchange in October 2022, alleged in a lawsuit that they were subjected to waterboarding, electric shocks, threats of sexual assault, mind-altering drugs and prolonged solitary confinement.

The so-called CITGO 6, six US oil executives detained in Venezuela for nearly five years after travelling there in 2017, have also described harsh conditions in custody. Three of them alleged in lawsuits that they were tortured while imprisoned.

Many of the Americans were held at the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence, known as DGCIM. A United Nations report has accused the agency of carrying out arbitrary detentions and torture, including electric shocks, suffocation, waterboarding, beatings, sexual violence, deprivation of food and water and exposure to extreme temperatures.

The potential new charges would add another major legal battle to the cases against Maduro and Flores as US prosecutors pursue allegations tied to the treatment of American detainees during Maduro’s years in power.