Oct. 8 (UPI) — U.S. prosecutors have filed a new indictment against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, charging them with conspiracy to commit torture. The indictment, made public Thursday, adds allegations involving American detainees to the drug trafficking case the couple already faced.
The indictment, filed in federal court in Manhattan, alleges that the couple conspired to inflict severe physical and mental suffering on people in their custody or under their control. Conspiracy to commit torture is the second of five counts.
Prosecutors allege that the defendants sought to “repress and punish political opposition, silence dissent and perceived dissent” and preserve their hold on power.
According to the indictment, Maduro ordered certain individuals detained and tortured and received reports about their treatment. Flores helped develop the system and “ordered individuals to be tortured to protect the illegal activities of her family members,” prosecutors said.
The indictment again links the couple and members of their inner circle to the Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, alleging that they trafficked drugs under the protection of Venezuelan military, judicial and law enforcement institutions. It also describes alleged alliances with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), among other criminal organizations.
Prosecutors allege that the couple used military units, armed civilian groups known as colectivos and drug trafficking organizations to detain and torture their victims.
The indictment identifies several American detainees by number. One, arrested in January 2022, was allegedly subjected to electric shocks, beatings, deprivation of food and water and forced injections that caused seizures.
Separately, CNN reported that U.S. officials and human rights advocates had described more than a dozen Americans detained under Maduro’s government as tools of political leverage.
CNN identified Matthew Heath and Osman Khan, who were released in a prisoner exchange in October 2022, as Americans who alleged in a lawsuit that they had been subjected to waterboarding, electric shocks, threats of sexual assault, psychotropic drugs and solitary confinement. The network also reported that Heath, a former U.S. Marine, attempted suicide while in detention.
Venezuelan digital news outlet Efecto Cocuyo also reported torture allegations involving Tomeu Vadell, Alirio José Zambrano and José Luis Zambrano, three of six executives from U.S.-based oil company CITGO who were arrested in 2017 and held for nearly five years. The indictment specifies that five of the six were U.S. citizens.
The outlet cited United Nations findings documenting torture by Venezuelan military counterintelligence agents, including suffocation, beatings, sexual violence and exposure to extreme temperatures to extract information, intimidate and punish detainees.
Maduro and Flores have been held in Brooklyn since U.S. forces captured them in Caracas on Jan. 3. Both pleaded not guilty to the earlier drug trafficking charges. Their trial is scheduled to begin June 1, 2027.
Flores is seeking release from custody on medical grounds at a hearing Thursday before U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein. Her attorneys plan to request house arrest, arguing that her heart condition cannot be adequately treated in prison.
The defense has proposed a residence in New York under round-the-clock surveillance. Her attorneys say Flores, 69, has lost 25 pounds while in custody and may require heart surgery.
Prosecutors oppose her release, citing an “extreme risk of flight and danger to the public.” They maintain that she has received hospital treatment when necessary.
Attorneys for the couple have also moved to dismiss the case on immunity grounds, citing their former positions as president and first lady.