Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York filed a superseding indictment on Thursday accusing former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, of conspiring to torture political opponents and U.S. citizens held in Venezuelan government custody.
The unsealed indictment alleges that Maduro authorized torture against specific individuals and oversaw a system of repression that relied on arbitrary detention, violence and torture to suppress political opposition. Prosecutors allege the abuse included electric shock, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, starvation, punishment cells and psychological torture.
The indictment also alleges that Flores played a direct role in the system, including ordering that individuals be tortured and receiving updates about the treatment of specific prisoners. In one alleged 2013 incident, Maduro ordered the arrest of a Venezuelan military officer he suspected of plotting a coup. Prosecutors allege Venezuelan military counterintelligence officers then shocked the man with a live electric wire about 20 times and suspended him by his hands and feet.
The new count, conspiracy to commit torture, adds to the narcoterrorism, drug trafficking and weapons charges the couple already face. Maduro and Flores pleaded not guilty to the earlier charges in January and have remained in U.S. custody since their capture in Caracas on January 3. Their trial is scheduled to begin June 1, 2027.
