USA accuses Maduro and woman of leading torture system in Venezuela

A u.S. justice today accused former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cili Flores of torture crimes against detainees, including US citizens, in the context of what he classified as a “system of repression” against political opponents.

On the charge, the Attorney General’s Office of the South District of New York points out Maduro and the woman as leaders of a “violent power structure” used to “consolidate power” and that resorted to torture practices.

“ This torture included electrical shocks, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, food deprivation, detention cells, and psychological torture, such as threats to harm or kill the victims’ relatives, including their children,” the New York Attorney’s Office said.

According to U.S. justice, Maduro and his wife developed and facilitated these systems to illegally accumulate “large wealth and power, rewarding their allies with funds obtained illegally and terrorizing their alleged opponents through persecution and violence.”.

The structure was based on the control of military forces, the judiciary and law enforcement agencies in Venezuela, the federal prosecutor’s office stressed, which also reported “alliances with organized criminal groups, including terrorist organizations and state-sponsored gangs.”.

The Attorney General’s Office of the South District of New York also states that Maduro developed the system together with several senior officials, who ordered murders or torture practices with the knowledge of the then Venezuelan president, leading an “agency responsible for torturing dozens of victims.”.

The former Venezuelan leader is also accused of “approving personally” the illegal detention and torture of specific people.

The U.S. justice still accuses Cili Flores of narcoterrorism, an accusation that was falling before only on Maduro.

The new charge was published in the judicial record of the case.

The charge imputes the conspiracy to distribute cocaine with the intention of providing resources to terrorist organizations.

This charge was the only one that, until now, distinguished the charge against Maduro from that filed against Cililia Flores.

Both were already facing conspiracy charges to import cocaine into the United States and possession and conspiracy to possess weapons of destruction.

The judge responsible for the case, Alvin Hellerstein, called today a hearing to examine the request for house arrest filed by Cili Flores.

Defense lawyers claim that the former First Lady of Venezuela suffers from a delicate and progressive deterioration of her heart health, aggravated during the months she spent in prison, where she shares the ward with more than 40 inmates in an environment they consider counterproductive for any medical recovery.

Maduro and his wife were captured in Caracas by the U.S. Armed Forces in January and arrested at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC).

They both declared themselves innocent of drug trafficking charges and risk life imprisonment if convicted.