US Accuses Maduro of Conspiring to Torture Political Opponents and US Citizens
WASHINGTON, DC – Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are facing new charges in the United States accusing them of conspiring to torture political opponents and US citizens detained in Venezuela.
The new charges were announced Thursday in a superseding indictment that also includes allegations of narcoterrorism, cocaine importation and weapons offences.
Maduro and Flores were already charged with conspiring to import cocaine into the United States. They have pleaded not guilty to those charges. They have been in US custody in New York since early January, when US forces seized them from their home in Caracas during a middle-of-the-night raid and brought them to the United States.
According to the new indictment, prosecutors allege that Maduro and Flores were involved in a system of repression that included unlawful detention, torture, violence and threats against political opponents and others.
The alleged torture included electric shocks, suffocation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, starvation, beatings and psychological threats.
Prosecutors also allege that at least one US citizen was deprived of food and water, subjected to simulated drowning and electric shocks, and forcibly injected with substances.
US Attorney General Todd Blanche said the new charges show the extent of what prosecutors allege was a long-running campaign of repression.
FBI Director Kash Patel and other US officials also accused Maduro and his associates of using government power to protect drug trafficking and other criminal activity.
The indictment alleges that Venezuelan officials worked with armed and drug-trafficking groups, including Colombia’s FARC and ELN and Mexican cartels, to move cocaine through Venezuela and other countries towards the United States.
Maduro and Flores are accused of conspiring to commit torture, narcoterrorism, cocaine importation and weapons offences.
The narcoterrorism conspiracy carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years and a maximum of life imprisonment if convicted. The cocaine importation charge carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life imprisonment, while the weapons charge carries a mandatory minimum of 30 years.
