South Americaupdated 1h ago2 min read
New York Prosecutors Prepare Charges Against Nicolás Maduro And Cilia Flores For Torturing Americans
New charges against Nicolás Maduro and wife Cilia Flores for torturing U.S. citizens in Venezuela Prosecution expected to be announced in Manhattan federal court; prosecutors preparing indictment
New torture charges loom
New York prosecutors are preparing new criminal charges against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores over alleged torture of Americans held in Venezuelan prisons during Maduro's government. Federal prosecutors are expected to bring the added allegations as soon as Thursday, and the new counts would be added to the existing case that includes narcoterrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation, and arms-related offenses.
Investigators have questioned released U.S. citizens who were imprisoned in Venezuela and later freed, and the case is also evaluating whether to charge additional former chavista leaders for their alleged involvement in the abuses. Matthew Heath and Osman Khan, both released in a prisoner swap in October 2022, have publicly described torture methods including electric shocks and simulated drowning, and the case also involves the so-called “Citgo 6,” six American oil executives detained in Venezuela in 2017 and imprisoned for almost five years.
Court dates and immunity fight
Flores is expected to appear in Manhattan federal court on Thursday before Judge Alvin Hellerstein to request her transfer to house arrest for health reasons, and prosecutors oppose the request by arguing there is an “extreme” flight risk. Barry Pollack, an attorney for Maduro, told CBS News that he has not been provided any notice that additional charges could be coming, as prosecutors prepare to expand the torture case.
Maduro and Flores remain in custody in New York without bail since their capture in January, and the sources describe the new allegations as relating to the allegedly illegal detention and mistreatment of more than a dozen U.S. citizens. Prosecutors argue that Maduro and Flores cannot claim equivalent protection to Delcy Rodríguez, because Caracas took formal steps to obtain immunity for Rodríguez in a Florida case while, according to prosecutors, it did not do the same for Maduro.
Who is affected next
The new charges are tied to alleged torture of U.S. citizens held in Venezuelan prisons, and investigators have reviewed the cases of more than a dozen Americans whom Washington considered unjustly detained during the years of Maduro. The torture allegations include accounts from Matthew Heath, who attempted suicide during his detention, and from Osman Khan, who described methods including threats of sexual assault and isolation.
The case also centers on the “CITGO 6,” and multiple detainees reported being tortured after passing through facilities of the Dirección General de Contrainteligencia Militar (DGCIM), which international investigations have attributed to torture practices against detainees. The expansion of the case is set to unfold alongside a scheduled trial timeline that Reuters and other reporting place as starting June 1, 2027, while Flores’s Thursday hearing and the prosecutors’ preparation of additional indictments shape what happens next in the Southern District of New York.