Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are facing additional criminal charges in the United States over allegations that they were involved in the torture of prisoners, including American citizens, during his presidency.
The charges, revealed on Thursday, October 8, widen the legal battle facing the couple, who are already accused of drug trafficking and weapons offences. They have denied the existing charges, while the latest indictment accuses them of supporting a system of violence and intimidation aimed at suppressing political opposition and keeping Maduro in power.
Maduro, 63, and Flores, 69, have remained in custody at a detention facility in Brooklyn since January. Their detention followed a pre-dawn operation by US forces at their compound in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, after which they were taken to the United States.
The new allegations centre on the treatment of US citizens who were reportedly held in Venezuelan detention facilities during Maduro’s time as president. Prosecutors outlined the accusations in a superseding indictment made public on Thursday, detailing what they described as a pattern of repression involving arbitrary detention and the mistreatment of prisoners.
The indictment accuses the couple of “entrenching themselves in power” by presiding “over a system of repression that relied on violence against political opposition, arbitrary detention, and the torture of detainees, including United States citizens”.
Prosecutors also outlined the forms of abuse allegedly inflicted on detainees, including “electric shock, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, starvation, punishment cells, and psychological torture”.
The court filing further alleges that psychological abuse involved threats against victims’ relatives, including their children, in an effort to frighten and control those being held.
Flores is accused of having a direct role in the alleged abuses. According to prosecutors, she helped develop the system of repression, gave orders for certain individuals to be tortured and received reports on the treatment of specific prisoners.
The indictment claims that her actions were intended to shield members of her family who were involved in illegal activities. The allegations form part of the prosecution’s case against both defendants as they prepare to face trial.
The latest accusations come against the backdrop of longstanding complaints about the treatment of prisoners in Venezuela. Human rights organisations and former inmates have for years reported what they describe as “systematic torture” in the country’s jails.
Javier Tarazona, who leads a human rights organisation in Venezuela, is among those who have recounted his experience in detention. Earlier this year, he told BBC Mundo’s Norberto Paredes that he and his brother spent 46 days in a tiny punishment cell after what he described as an arbitrary arrest.
Another former detainee, Ángel Godoy, told BBC Mundo that he was held in isolation for months and was not permitted to communicate with his wife. She was also left without information about where he was being held.
The accounts from Tarazona and Godoy mirror some of the forms of mistreatment described in the indictment, although the allegations against Maduro and Flores remain part of a legal case that is yet to go to trial.
The latest charges add to the pressure on the former Venezuelan leader and his wife as they continue to face prosecution in the United States. Both remain in custody in Brooklyn, while the earlier drug-trafficking and weapons accusations remain contested.
The trial against Maduro and Flores is scheduled to begin in June 2027.