Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been charged in US federal court with conspiring to commit torture, according to a newly unsealed indictment.
The couple has been held in the United States since early January, when US authorities seized them during a surprise overnight raid at their home in Caracas.
The indictment alleges that Maduro and Flores “sat atop” a “violent power structure” that approved the torture of targeted individuals, including US citizens believed to threaten Maduro’s hold on power.
According to the charging document, the alleged abuse included electric shocks, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, starvation and confinement in punishment cells. It also allegedly involved psychological torture, including threats against victims’ families and children, according to a copy reviewed by the Daily Mail.
Maduro and Flores were already facing US charges alleging that they conspired to smuggle drugs into the country.
Then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro waves a national flag in Caracas. The longtime leader and his wife have been charged with conspiracy to commit torture
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are shown in handcuffs following their arrest and transfer to the US. They arrived on January 6 and were taken to federal court in Manhattan
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado greets supporters at an opposition protest. Maduro was declared the winner of the 2024 election, a result questioned by international observers and the opposition
Prosecutors allege that Maduro used his presidential position to oversee a system of repression that relied on violence against political opponents. The alleged campaign included arbitrary detentions and the torture of detainees, including US citizens.
Maduro has challenged the legality of his arrest and transfer to the United States, calling the operation a “kidnapping.”
President Donald Trump and members of his administration have defended the raid as a “surgical law enforcement operation.”
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The Justice Department has also charged Maduro in connection with narco-terrorism, cocaine trafficking and illegal weapons offenses, according to court documents.
Maduro and Flores have both pleaded not guilty to every charge.
At an earlier federal court appearance this year, Maduro remained defiant.
“I’m still the president of my country,” he said during his January arraignment, where he appeared to spend much of the proceeding writing angrily on a legal pad.
“I’m a prisoner of war,” he later declared while being escorted from court to the Brooklyn detention center where he is being held.
In the months since his detention, Maduro has reportedly lost weight and has often appeared relaxed or even cheerful in photographs showing him in shackles and prison tracksuits.
Images dated June 25 showed him grinning while wearing a gray tracksuit and white sneakers at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.
This is a breaking news story. Check back soon for updates.
The president has openly said that the military operation to remove Maduro was partly intended to secure some of oil-rich Venezuela’s stock. Maduro is pictured on January 5
Captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro has been pictured flashing a smile and a peace sign in new photographs released from federal prison from June
People raise their hands during a mass opposition rally against then-President Nicolas Maduro in this 2019 photo. Thousands of supporters massed outside the National Assembly in support of the former opposition candidate.