Federal prosecutors in New York are preparing new charges against Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, over the alleged torture of Americans, CNN first reported Wednesday. Reuters, citing a U.S. official briefed on the investigation, reported the charges could be filed as early as Thursday. A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office declined to comment to Reuters.
Nicolás Maduro already faces drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges in a Manhattan federal courtroom. Now the former Venezuelan dictator and his wife may have to answer for something even more personal to Americans: the alleged torture of U.S. citizens held in Venezuelan prisons.
What prosecutors are reportedly looking at
According to VOZ News, which summarized CNN’s Spanish-language report, the case centers on more than a dozen Americans who were held for years in Venezuelan prisons. The Maduro government allegedly used them as political bargaining chips.
Among the Americans described in that reporting:
- Matthew Heath, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, and Osman Khan. Both were freed in a prisoner exchange in October 2022.
- The “CITGO 6,” oil executives arrested in Caracas in 2017 and held for nearly five years. VOZ named three of them: Tomeu Vadell, Alirio José Zambrano and José Luis Zambrano.
In earlier lawsuits, victims described waterboarding, electric shocks, threats of sexual assault, forced doses of psychiatric drugs and long stretches of solitary confinement, according to VOZ. The Americans were reportedly held at the headquarters of Venezuela’s military counterintelligence agency, known as DGCIM.
That agency has a long, ugly record. A United Nations report quoted by VOZ found it was “responsible for arbitrary detentions, ill-treatment, and torture against political opponents and their family members.”
VOZ also reported that investigators have not ruled out charging other senior officials in Venezuela’s security apparatus.
How Maduro ended up in Manhattan
U.S. forces seized Maduro and Flores from their homes in Caracas on Jan. 3 and flew them to New York, according to Reuters. The couple has pleaded not guilty to the drug trafficking charges brought by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office.
The existing case covers cocaine trafficking, narco-terrorism and weapons offenses, Fox News reported. Prosecutors allege the scheme moved thousands of tons of cocaine toward the United States and funded violent terrorist groups.
Maduro’s lawyers argue the court has no jurisdiction because he should be treated as Venezuela’s head of state. Prosecutors have pushed back hard. In a filing quoted by Fox News, they wrote: “The defendants are former rogue officials of a formerly rogue state with no entitlement to immunity.” They also noted the United States has not recognized Maduro as Venezuela’s leader since January 2019.
Thursday’s hearing
Fox News reported that a hearing was set for 10:30 a.m. Thursday in Manhattan federal court, with U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald expected to speak afterward. The hearing was also set to take up Flores’ request to be released from jail for medical reasons.
Her lawyers have proposed home confinement with GPS monitoring, round-the-clock armed guards and surrender of her travel documents. Her lawyer wrote that “Her medical condition is significant and her current housing, despite best efforts, is inadequate.” Maduro and Flores deny the allegations against them.
As of Wednesday night, the new torture charges had been reported as expected, not filed. Readers should watch for the official announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Why this case is different
Drug charges are serious. But torture charges tied to American victims hit closer to home. These were U.S. citizens, including a Marine veteran and oil workers, who were allegedly locked up, abused and traded like poker chips by a hostile regime.
For years, Washington’s response to that kind of hostage-taking was mostly quiet negotiation. Families waited. Some prisoners came home only after swaps that rewarded the regime that took them.
The bottom line
Dictators have long counted on one thing: that no matter what they did to Americans, they would never sit in an American courtroom. Maduro’s capture already broke that rule. Charging him for the alleged torture of U.S. citizens would send an even louder message to every regime that sees Americans as bargaining chips.
The defendants are presumed innocent, and prosecutors will have to prove their case. But there is something right about the men and women who were allegedly abused in DGCIM cells seeing the accused face a jury in New York.
Strength in foreign policy is not only about aircraft carriers. It is also about making clear that harming Americans carries a price, and that the price can be collected.