WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro have been charged with conspiring to torture American citizens
The Justice Department announced that the former Venezuelan leader and former First Lady, who are currently jailed in the United States, were charged in a Superseding Indictment unsealed Thursday with conspiring to commit torture, narcoterrorism, cocaine importation conspiracy, and weapons offenses.
'Since the capture and arrest of Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, the Department of Justice has been working to uncover the extent of their alleged crimes against the people of Venezuela and of the United States,' said Attorney General Todd Blanche.
'As alleged in the indictment, the Maduro regime subjected American citizens to torture while held in custody of the Venezuelan government - including drugs, electric shock, sexual assault, and more,' said FBI Director Kash Patel.
The indictment says that for more than two decades, the Maduros and other Venezuelan leaders abused their positions to enrich themselves through narco-terrorism, cocaine trafficking, and other corruption, including by employing Venezuelan military, law enforcement, and other government entities under their control to flood the United States with illegal narcotics.
Maduro and his wife allegedly led a violent power structure, and with the help of their co-conspirators used it to amass immense wealth and power, rewarding allies with ill-gotten funds and terrorizing perceived opponents through persecution and violence.
The Mduro regime allegedly partnered with narcotics traffickers and narco-terrorists from foreign terrorist organizations, including Colombia's FARC, ELN, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Zetas, and Tren de Aragua (TdA. They dispatched cocaine from Venezuela to the United States via transshipment points in the Caribbean and Central America, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
These drug cartels are sanctioned by the U.S. Government.
The Superseding Indictment charges Maduro, 63, and Flores de Maduro, 69, with participating in a narcoterrorism conspiracy, which carries a minimum punishment of 20-year imprisonment and a maximum of life in prison.
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