Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and his wife charged over torture allegations

Former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were charged in the US state of New York with conspiring to commit torture in connection with allegations that they tortured political opponents to maintain their power.

The indictment, filed on Thursday in a Manhattan federal court, adds one count of conspiracy to commit torture to the drug trafficking charges the couple already faced.

It alleges that Maduro and Flores were part of a conspiracy that used torture and other abuses to repress and punish political opponents. Prosecutors say the conspiracy ran from at least 1999 through 2025 and involved Venezuelan military, intelligence and law enforcement officials.

The indictment details several cases of alleged torture. One detainee was allegedly subjected to electric shocks and asphyxiation after being arrested following a 2018 drone attack that the Venezuelan government said was an attempt to assassinate Maduro.

The alleged abuses also extended to United States citizens detained in Venezuela, three of whom were cited in the indictment. In one case, in January 2025, Venezuelan intelligence officers arrested an American citizen who was not their intended target and beat him repeatedly over two days, which caused permanent injury to his eye. He was reportedly released about a year later and was warned by Venezuelan officials not to disclose that the government had abused him.

Prosecutors allege that Maduro personally directed or was regularly briefed on the abuse of detainees. In one instance, the indictment says Maduro was told that a detained military officer remained defiant and responded by ordering officials to “squeeze them harder”. Prosecutors say he went so far as to suggest specific torture methods for unrelenting victims.

In other cases, prosecutors allege Maduro was told about beatings, electric shocks and simulated drowning and directed officials to apply additional “pressure”. According to the indictment, Flores was present at some of the meetings where detainees and their treatment were discussed.

“The indictment … alleges conduct that is truly unthinkable. The members of Maduro’s broad conspiracy were not just sitting behind a desk,” said federal prosecutor Jamie McDonald at a news conference. “These members of the conspiracy were holding the shovel. American citizens were tortured, and so were thousands of Venezuelans, we allege.”

Maduro and Flores pleaded not guilty to the drug charges and have been held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center since their capture. Their trial is scheduled for June 1, 2027.

The charges pile on an ongoing criminal case against Maduro and Flores. A superseding indictment accuses Maduro of working with cartel groups to move cocaine through Venezuela towards the US.

Maduro was abducted and imprisoned on January 3, after US President Donald Trump authorised a military raid in Caracas.