Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have pleaded not guilty to new charges in the United States accusing them of conspiring to torture political opponents.
The additional charges, filed last Thursday, expand the criminal case against Maduro, 63, and Flores, 70, who had previously denied allegations that they abused their positions to facilitate cocaine trafficking.
The couple entered their pleas during an arraignment before US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein at a federal court in Manhattan, New York. They appeared in tan prison uniforms with shackles around their ankles.
Maduro told the court that the allegations contained in the indictment were false and that he rejected the accusations in their entirety.
“I have seen it in its entirety, Judge Hellerstein,” Maduro said, referring to the indictment. “I reject this document in its entirety.”
The judge interrupted Maduro and entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf.
Flores also maintained her innocence, telling the court: “I am completely innocent. I am not guilty.”
Neither Maduro nor Flores is accused of personally carrying out acts of torture. However, each faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 50 years in prison if convicted on all the charges.
Following the introduction of the new allegations, Hellerstein postponed the trial by two weeks, setting a new start date of June 14, 2027.
Prosecutors from the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office allege that Maduro directed Venezuelan officials to torture opposition politicians and military personnel suspected of plotting against his government in an effort to retain power.
According to the indictment, one alleged incident occurred in 2014, when Maduro purportedly ordered officials to kidnap military personnel to extract information about suspected dissidents.
The document further alleges that Maduro instructed officials to “squeeze them harder” when some of the detainees refused to cooperate.
Flores allegedly supported the plan during a meeting and rejected an alternative proposal to obtain information by infiltrating the ranks of suspected dissidents, according to prosecutors.
Relations between Maduro, a socialist who led the oil-rich South American country for 13 years, and Washington remained strained throughout his time in office.
Successive US administrations imposed sanctions on senior Venezuelan officials and key state-owned companies, citing alleged human rights abuses, corruption and electoral manipulation.
Maduro, in turn, accused the United States of seeking to remove him from power to gain greater control over Venezuela’s natural resources.
The prolonged confrontation culminated in a US military operation on January 3, during which American forces captured Maduro and Flores at their home in Caracas and transported them to the United States to face drug-trafficking charges announced that day.
The couple have since been detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Since Maduro’s capture, his former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, has assumed leadership of Venezuela and increased cooperation with the United States.
US President Donald Trump has described Maduro’s capture and the subsequent improvement in relations with Venezuela as a major foreign policy achievement.
The development comes ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, in which Trump’s fellow Republicans are seeking to retain control of Congress.
