Maduro charged with torturing Americans as wife denied bail

The feds detailed grisly accusations of torture by Maduro’s officers, including electric shocks to genitals and, in one instance, forcing a man to eat his own vomit.MANHATTAN (CN) — Federal prosecutors unsealed new charges against ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro, just minutes before a bail hearing Thursday in their narco-terrorism case.In a fresh indictment, the feds charge the couple with one new count of conspiracy to commit torture against at least nine victims, three of them being United States citizens.“That torture included electric shock, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, starvation, punishment cells and psychological torture, such as threats to harm and kill victims’ families, including children,” prosecutors claim.The government says this was part of Maduro’s broader scheme to cling to power and enrich himself with a ruthless international drug trafficking empire. Both Flores and Maduro were captured by the U.S. military in January after being charged with drug and gun charges in the Southern District of New York. They’ve been detained in Brooklyn ever since.They pleaded not guilty to the prior charges, but have yet to be arraigned on the new count of conspiracy to commit torture.Since 2006, Maduro and Flores directed members of their security details to torture and kill those who undermined their drug trafficking operations, according to prosecutors. In one 2010 instance, the couple suspected a Venezuelan law enforcement officer of being disloyal, so they ordered members of the Bolivarian National Guard to torture him.“Those security officers did so inside a military trailer, tying up Official-1’s hands and feet, striking him with a shovel and with the butts of National Guard long guns, kicking him in the groin, shooting him in his left leg near his knee and raping him with a broomstick, resulting in extensive injuries to Official-1, including to his genitalia,” the government claims.In recent years, as tensions flared between the Venezuelan and U.S. governments, prosecutors say the violent torture extended to Americans as well. The government claims that in 2022, Venezuelan officers detained an American while entering Venezuela, falsely accused him of trying to assassinate Maduro, and repeatedly beat him inside a concrete house.“Among other things, the officers punched him in the face and abdomen, covered his face, and poured a noxious liquid over his face that caused him to vomit, which the officer then forced him to eat,” prosecutors argue.According to the indictment, his torture continued in a Venezuelan prison, where officers shocked his genitals with electricity and forcibly injected him with a substance that gave him seizures. He was released and returned to the U.S. more than eight months later.The government identifies two other Americans who were tortured in Venezuela in subsequent years. One was captured while visiting family in 2023 — prosecutors claim he was told by his torturer that he could be useful in a prisoner exchange with the U.S. The other was arrested in 2025 after officers came to his home looking for someone else, according to the feds. They say he was beaten by several officers approximately every half hour during his year in custody.The new torture count against Maduro and Flores means they now face a minimum of 50 years in prison, if found guilty of their charges.Prosecutors on Thursday used the new indictment to bolster their argument against releasing Flores from prison. Flores, supposedly battling a heart condition and severe weight loss at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, was seeking bail so she can receive treatment for a cardiac issue.After staying in the jail’s special housing unit for the first leg of her imprisonment, Flores has since been moved to general population with between 30 and 40 other women. That’s no place to recover from her heart condition, according to Flores’ lawyer Mark Donnelly, who claimed Flores experienced chest pain after guards used pepper spray to break up a prison brawl.U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected her bid for release, however, noting that he went through similar treatment for his own heart issue. At the moment, it isn’t necessary to release her for that alone, he said.“It’s clear that jail is not a nice place to be, but these are serious allegations,” said the Bill Clinton appointee, later adding that “the medical reasons are premature.”Flores proposed round-the-clock security to monitor her at a private residence in the U.S. Still, Hellerstein found the risk too severe, considering her connections to high-ranking government officials in Venezuela.Maduro was not present at Thursday’s hearing. His team has argued the couple should not be prosecuted in the U.S. at all due to sovereign immunity.The Trump administration’s capture of the leader has garnered significant controversy. The military operation reportedly caused dozens of deaths in Venezuela and was likened by critics to an act of war.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads