US Prosecutors Plan to Add Torture Charges Against Maduro; Extraterritorial Military Capture and Sanctions Pressure Pattern Continues

According to ABC News Australia citing CNN and people familiar with the matter, US prosecutors are considering bringing additional criminal charges related to torture against former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, with an announcement possible as early as Thursday local time.

The new charges concern the alleged unlawful detention of more than ten US citizens during Maduro's time in office. Prosecutors are also evaluating whether to charge additional individuals allegedly involved in the torture of Americans. A spokesperson for the Manhattan federal prosecutor's office declined to comment, and defense lawyers for Maduro and Flores did not respond immediately.

The 63-year-old Maduro and the 69-year-old Flores are currently being held at a federal prison in Brooklyn, New York. Both face narcotics-related charges, have pleaded not guilty, and their trial is expected to begin next June.

The starting point of this case was not an extradition proceeding, but a US military operation. In January of this year, Maduro and his wife were taken from their Caracas residence by US military personnel and transported to New York. This cross-border capture placed a former leader of a sovereign nation directly under US federal judicial jurisdiction, bypassing conventional extradition and mutual legal assistance procedures.

ABC News Australia's report reviewed the trajectory of US-Venezuela confrontation: during Maduro's 13 years in power, Washington accused his government of holding detained US citizens as leverage to extract concessions, including the easing of financial sanctions. Among the Americans designated by the US side as having been "wrongfully detained" were five oil executives arrested in Venezuela on corruption charges. In 2022, those five were released in exchange for two nephews of Flores who had been convicted of drug trafficking in the United States — a transaction completed in the form of hostage diplomacy against the backdrop of financial sanctions pressure.

Following Maduro's arrest, Venezuela has been led by his former deputy Delcy Rodríguez. The Rodríguez government has significantly deepened cooperation with the Trump administration.

Flores is expected to appear in Manhattan federal court this Thursday, with her lawyers seeking pretrial release on health grounds, while prosecutors oppose her release.