Venezuela’s deposed socialist Dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores are expected to face new charges on the alleged torture of American citizens who were unjustly kept as political prisoners during his rule.
The couple have remained detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn since U.S. forces arrested them in January during a law enforcement operation in Caracas, Venezuela. The deposed socialist dictator and his wife are expected to face trial in June 2027 on multiple drug trafficking charges.
CNN, Fox News, and other outlets repot that Maduro and Flores could face new charges, accusing them of playing a role in the unjust detention of over a dozen Americans and the alleged torture of American detainees.
Per Fox News, the new charges are expected to be announced on Thursday, October 8.
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Maduro’s attorney, Barry Pollack, told CBS News he “has not been provided any notice” that additional charges could be coming against his client. Pollack is challenging the legality of Maduro’s arrest alleging the dictator should have “immunity.” Prosecutors have pointed out that the Venezuelan socialist regime is not joining in claiming immunity for Maduro.
For years, and in a greater proportion during the last two years of his rule, the Maduro regime unjustly detained about a dozen American citizens and numerous other foreigners, keeping them as political prisoners while issuing spurious accusations against the detainees.
Maduro repeatedly claimed that the Americans and other foreigners that his regime unjustly detained were part of purported plots to assassinate him and top members of his socialist regime — the now-deposed dictator, however, never presented any evidence that could substantiate his accusations.
Venezuelan dissidents residing in Madrid, Spain, gather to celebrate the U.S. attacks in Caracas, Venezuela, and the subsequent arrest of Nicolas Maduro and his wife by U.S. forces. (David Canales/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Several of the Americans that remained detained in Venezuela were released in the first days of President Donald Trump’s second term thanks to successful negotiations conducted by the Trump administration.
Two of the Americans detained in Venezuela in the past, former U.S. Marine corporal Matthew Heath and Osman Khan, filed a lawsuit against Maduro at a Miami federal court in January 2025, accusing him of leading a vast “criminal enterprise” and of using the unjustly imprisoned Americans as “bargaining chips” in negotiations with the United States.
Heath and Khan reportedly alleged in the 2025 lawsuit that Maduro regime officials unjustly detained them and subjected them to numerous acts of torture and inhumane treatment, such as “waterboarding, electrocution, threats of rape with a nightstick,” and “mind-altering medications.”
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The claimants also accused the Maduro regime of subjecting them to El Tigrito (“The Little Tiger”), a widely known and documented torture cell extensively used by the Maduro regime to punish dissidents.
Cilia Flores, is due in federal court on Thursday for a bond hearing. Flores was given the title of “First Combatant” by the Maduro regime, a made-up socialist title that allegedly elevated the dictator’s wife above First Lady status.
Following Maduro and Flores’ arrest by U.S. forces in January, the dictator’s former Vice President and current “Acting President” of Venezuela Delcy Rodriguez has been in charge of the socialist regime.
Rodríguez met with President Donald Trump last month on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. The “Acting President” notably made no mention of her former boss during her U.N. speech — vowing to hold new elections in Venezuela at an unspecified date.