“American citizens were abused in Venezuela”: New indictment against Nicolás Maduro
US federal prosecutors intend to charge former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife with torturing American citizens held in detention facilities in Venezuela
The federal prosecution in New York is expected to file new criminal charges against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, CNN reported overnight Wednesday into Thursday. According to sources familiar with the details of the investigation, the new charges focus on the consistent use of torture and unlawful detention of more than a dozen American citizens who were held in the country in recent years. An official statement from the US Department of Justice on the matter may be released in the coming days.
The new indictments are based, among other things, on the harsh testimonies of American detainees who were released from prison in Venezuela, where they were sometimes held as political bargaining chips. Former Marine Matthew Heath and Osman Khan, who were released in a prisoner exchange deal in 2022, described waterboarding, electric shocks, threats of sexual assault, forced use of mind-altering drugs, and prolonged periods of solitary confinement.
Similar testimonies were given by members of the "CITGO 6" group—senior executives at an American oil company who were lured to Caracas in 2017 and held in detention for about five years. The detainees were held at the detention facility of the Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM).
A UN report previously determined that this organization systematically extracted confessions and instilled fear by denying food and water, suffocation, beatings, and exposure to extreme temperatures.
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Maduro and Flores were apprehended last January during a U.S. military raid at the presidential palace in Caracas, and since then they have been held in custody in New York without the possibility of release on bail. The two are already facing serious charges of conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism and drug trafficking, charges to which they have pleaded not guilty.
While Flores's lawyer is expected to request her transfer to house arrest, Maduro's defense attorney claims full presidential immunity and challenges the very legality of his arrest. Meanwhile, federal investigators are considering the possibility of filing charges against additional individuals involved in the Venezuelan repression apparatus.