According to U.S. prosecutors in a newly updated indictment filed in Manhattan, former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, headed a state-directed apparatus of repression that used beatings, asphyxiation, and electric shocks against scores of victims, including several Americans. The filing, as described in the source report adapted from the Associated Press, adds torture allegations to an existing U.S. drug trafficking case against the pair.
What prosecutors allege
U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald called the updated filing “truly unthinkable” and “the epitome of corruption,” speaking outside the courthouse, according to the report. The indictment alleges Maduro approved specific methods, requested updates on detainees, watched a video of a forced confession, and personally threatened to kill a prisoner’s child as psychological torture. Prosecutors contend Flores helped build the system and ordered abuse of named individuals, per the filing.
Americans among alleged victims
The indictment describes three American victims: one allegedly shocked with electricity and forced to eat vomit during months in custody; another beaten severely, hospitalized, and threatened with a gun in his mouth; and a third handcuffed, hooded, and beaten every 30 minutes for two days, leaving a permanent eye injury. One victim matches the description of Osman Khan, the report notes. Khan was released in October 2022 along with former U.S. Marine Matthew Heath and six American oil executives in a swap for two nephews of Flores convicted in U.S. court, according to the article. Heath, learning of the new charges, said, “It’s incredible to see a dictator in court” and argued the case would deter kidnappings of Americans by rogue regimes, per the report.
Defense pushback and bail ruling
Maduro and Flores have pleaded not guilty in the U.S. drug case referenced in the report. Their attorneys argue they have immunity as Venezuela’s former head of state and first lady. The updated indictment spans alleged torture dating to 2013, the year Maduro succeeded Hugo Chávez, according to the source.
Flores’ lawyers asked a judge to release her to home confinement for medical care, citing weight loss, a possible minor heart attack, and potential need for surgery. Prosecutors opposed release as an “extreme” flight risk, and U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied the request, noting she has been treated as needed and declined a recommended catheterization in jail, per the report. Demonstrators outside the courthouse supported her request.
Context and sourcing notes
The report says the indictment does not identify certain victims by name, but that descriptions align with cases involving Venezuelan opposition figures including Leopoldo López, former Defense Minister Raúl Baduel (who died in custody in 2021), and Fernando Albán (who died after a fall in an intelligence building and was later deemed a “murder for hire” by a U.S. court). The article also states Maduro has long been under International Criminal Court investigation over alleged crimes against humanity connected to crackdowns on opponents, and that he denies wrongdoing.
The source further asserts the updated filing appears to rely in part on cooperation from Gen. Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal, Chávez’s former spymaster, who pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges after extradition from Spain and has met with prosecutors building the case. In an open letter quoted by the report, Carvajal wrote that he sought “to atone by telling the full truth.”
The same report claims the U.S. military seized Maduro and Flores in January to face drug charges in New York and that Venezuela’s government had not commented on the new accusations at the time. It also references domestic political figures in Caracas in connection with the response. These assertions are presented here as reported by the source and require independent verification.
