Venezuela’s Maduro and wife Flores tortured US citizens to stay in power: US prosecutors

Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores both were hit with an additional US criminal charge on Thursday stemming from accusations they tortured political opponents and American citizens to retain their grip on power in the South American country.

Separately, US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who is overseeing the case, denied a request by Flores to be released from jail ahead of trial due to health reasons.

Maduro and Flores were ‌charged with an additional count of conspiracy to commit torture in addition to the drug-trafficking charges they previously faced, according to a superseding indictment filed in Manhattan federal court. Maduro and Flores would face a mandatory minimum 50 years in prison if convicted.

Flores, 69, and Maduro, 63, were captured by the US military on January 3 in their Caracas home and brought to New York to face the drug charges. Venezuela has since boosted cooperation with the US under the leadership of Maduro’s former Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez.

Relations between the United States and oil-rich Venezuela were tense during the socialist Maduro’s 13 years in power. US officials and human rights groups have long accused Venezuelan officials ⁠of torturing detainees, but Thursday’s indictment marked the first time Maduro faced criminal charges over the allegations.

In one instance, prosecutors said Maduro in 2013 ordered the arrest of a Venezuelan military ‌officer he suspected of planning a coup.

Members of Venezuela’s military counter-intelligence directorate then interrogated the officer while shocking the individual with a live electric wire around 20 times and hung the individual by the hands and feet for several minutes at a time, prosecutors said.

In 2022, an American citizen ‌detained while entering Venezuela was accused of conspiring to assassinate Maduro and was tortured by military counter-intelligence officers through beatings and shocks to the person’s arms, legs ⁠and genitals, according to the indictment.

Since their ⁠capture and arrest, the US Justice Department “has been working to uncover the extent of their alleged crimes against the people of Venezuela and of the United States”, US Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a social media ‌post.

Maduro’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

During the court hearing on Thursday over Flores’ push to be released from jail, her lawyer Mark Donnelly said he had not had time to review the new charges with Flores. ‌Flores ‌was not asked to enter a plea.

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

Flores’ lawyers had argued their client needs a cardiac procedure and wants to recover in a more comfortable environment. The lawyers proposed moving ⁠her to a residence in the New York City area with round-the-clock private security and said she is not a danger to the community.

In denying the motion for bail, Hellerstein ⁠decided the evidence against Flores appeared strong. The judge also said Flores, who wore a dark prison T-shirt and a headset to listen to a simultaneous Spanish translation of the proceedings, appeared to be relatively healthy.

“For whatever it’s worth, her appearance today is no worse and perhaps a little better than when I first met ‌with her on her arraignment,” Hellerstein said, referring ‌to her first appearance in court on January 5.

“She was still bandaged up from the military invasion,” Donnelly said.

Prosecutors in the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office opposed Flores’ release. They said Flores has received adequate medical care at the detention centre and, if released, poses an “extreme” risk of flight and danger to the public including possible witness intimidation.

Hellerstein’s bail denial will not affect Flores’ trial or potential punishment.

Flores was Venezuela’s attorney general and led its National Assembly before becoming first lady. US prosecutors say she took hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from a large drug trafficker.