Trump administration accuses Maduro of torture in latest indictment

The Trump administration on Thursday unveiled new charges against deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, accusing the duo of ordering physical and psychological torture against Americans and others.

According to the superseding indictment, Maduro “presided over this system of repression and torture” while his wife Cilia Flores “ordered that individuals be tortured to protect her family members’ illegal activity.”

The two have already pleaded not guilty in earlier charges levied after the Trump administration raided Maduro’s home, captured the leader and brought him to the United States, and accused him of narco-terrorism and cocaine trafficking.Asserting that thousands of Venezuelans were “harassed, threatened, arrested, prosecuted, assaulted, tortured, or killed” by people acting at the behest of Maduro’s government, the indictment alleges that the abuse included electric shocks, beatings and asphyxiation.

Maduro, the indictment claims, signed off on torture methods, sought and got updates on specific victims’ treatment, watched a video of a forced confession and personally threatened the killing of one prisoner’s child “as a form of psychological torture.”

Maduro is accused of ordering torture as early as 2006, with the indictment saying he and his wife “used military officials assigned to their protective details to torture and intimidate individuals viewed as disloyal or a threat to their illegal narcotics activity.”

“When MADURO MOROS became President of Venezuela in or about 2013, he authorized the use of torture against specific individuals and oversaw a system designed to use torture, arbitrary detention, and violence as a means of repression against the political opposition.”

Barry Pollock, an attorney for Maduro, pushed back on the allegations in the indictment.

“President Maduro denies the charges in the new indictment and looks forward to his day in court,” he said in a statement.

Thursday’s indictment is the fourth based on charges first brought while Maduro was still in power under the first Trump administration.

The indictment released the January morning after Maduro’s capture laid out 39 counts and accused Maduro of having connections to drug trafficking gangs far beyond the border of Venezuela.

Though that indictment alleges Maduro is connected to six different gangs, details on Maduro’s alleged coordination with them were slim and, in some cases, the indictment included only passing references to the groups.