Maduro and wife face added conspiracy-to-torture charge in New York

According to ABC News, former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were hit with an additional "conspiracy to torture" charge this week, nearly ten months after both were taken by U.S. forces from their residence in Caracas in January.

According to a superseding indictment filed in Manhattan federal court, the 63-year-old Maduro and the 69-year-old Flores face the new conspiracy-to-torture count on top of the original drug-trafficking charges. Prosecutors accuse them of using torture to persecute political opponents in order to maintain their grip on Venezuela.

On January 3, U.S. military personnel went directly into a residence in Caracas and escorted the Maduro couple to New York to stand trial. The raid ended Maduro's 13-year tenure in power.

A more structurally telling indication lies in what followed the change of power: after Maduro's ouster, Venezuela's new government, led by his former vice president Delcy Rodríguez, markedly deepened cooperation with the United States. In this cross-border legal action brought by the U.S. military against a former leader of another country, the new government not only refrained from protesting but was authorized by the U.S. side to pay Maduro and Flores' legal fees. This means a foreign government has, in effect, "endorsed" the proceeding and shouldered part of the financial cost of dealing with the former leaders.

On Thursday (local time), Flores' lawyers were set to ask Manhattan federal judge Hellerstein to grant bail, arguing she needs heart surgery and a more comfortable setting in which to recover. The lawyers proposed moving her to a residence in the New York metropolitan area with round-the-clock private security, stressing she poses no danger to the community and that the Venezuelan government would cover the costs.

The Manhattan federal prosecutor's office has firmly opposed the request. Prosecutors said Flores has been receiving adequate medical care at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center and that her release would create an "extreme" flight risk and danger to the public, including the possibility of witness intimidation. Prosecutors also noted that other judges have ruled it unfair to allow some criminal defendants to pay for their own conditions of pre-trial supervision, since defendants with fewer means cannot afford such costs.

If convicted on the drug-trafficking charges, Flores would face a mandatory minimum of 40 years in prison. Both Maduro and Flores have pleaded not guilty to the drug-trafficking charges.

Trial is scheduled for June 1 of next year at Manhattan federal court. Until then, the former First Couple will remain held at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center.