Maduro, Wife Expected to Face New US Torture Charges

U.S. prosecutors in New York are expected to bring additional charges against Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores over the alleged torture and wrongful detention of more than a dozen Americans held in Venezuelan prisons during Maduro's rule, with an announcement possible as soon as Thursday. Maduro and Flores were captured in a U.S. military operation in Caracas on Jan. 3, transferred to New York, and have pleaded not guilty to narco-terrorism, cocaine importation, and weapons-related conspiracy counts. Flores has an Oct. 8 home-confinement hearing; prosecutors filed an Oct. 2 memo opposing immunity claims ahead of a Nov. 17 hearing before Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, with trial tentatively set for June 2027. Prosecutor James M. McDonald wrote that Venezuela has not asserted immunity for Maduro or Flores, while it invoked immunity for Delcy Rodríguez that the United States recognized after naming her head of state. Rodríguez called the operation an illegal and illegitimate kidnapping and said there is only one president, Nicolás Maduro Moros. Maduro's lawyers seek head-of-state immunity; prosecutors say the U.S. stopped recognizing Maduro in January 2019. Matthew Heath and Osman Khan alleged waterboarding and electrocution; CITGO 6 executives held nearly five years said they were tortured. A UN report described routine electric shocks, waterboarding, and related practices. Victim identities and whether new charges join the existing case remain undisclosed.