The U.S. Department of Justice has brought new charges against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, accusing them of conspiring to torture political opponents and U.S. citizens. U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche stated this, UNN reports.
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According to U.S. prosecutors, Maduro and Flores were involved in creating a system of repression that included arbitrary detentions, violence, and torture used to maintain their grip on power.
The indictment states that in 2013, Maduro ordered the arrest of a Venezuelan officer whom he suspected of preparing a coup. According to prosecutors, military counterintelligence officers subjected the detainee to electric shocks approximately 20 times and also suspended him by his arms and legs for several minutes.
Another incident involved a U.S. citizen detained while entering Venezuela in 2022. He was accused of preparing an assassination attempt against Maduro. According to prosecutors, during interrogations, military counterintelligence officers beat the American and used electric shocks, including on his limbs and genitals.
"A superseding indictment has just been unsealed, charging Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, with conspiring to commit torture, including the alleged torture of U.S. citizens for more than two decades, in addition to the previously filed charges of narcotics trafficking and crimes. Since their capture and arrest, the U.S. Department of Justice has been working to establish the scope of the alleged crimes they committed against the people of Venezuela and the United States, and these additional charges reflect this administration's commitment to securing justice for the victims of torture, narco-terrorism, and organized crime," Blanche wrote.