Venezuelan military officers beat a detainee with a machete and sprayed him with chemical irritant while interrogating him about the whereabouts of a political rival of Nicolás Maduro.
The incident, which prosecutors in New York say occurred in 2018, appears in an expanded indictment against Venezuela's ousted president and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Maduro and Flores are charged with conspiracy to torture regime opponents in order to preserve their rule. The two, who were captured in January in an American raid in Caracas and transferred to New York, deny the charges.
The prosecution relies on a 1994 federal statute that allows the United States to prosecute torture committed outside its borders, provided the suspect is an American citizen or is present on American soil.
The law provides for up to 20 years' imprisonment per count, and even the death penalty if the victim died. Maduro and his wife are not exposed to the death penalty under the current charges, which concern conspiracy to commit torture rather than its direct execution.
According to a Reuters review, this marks only the seventh and eighth time charges have been brought in the United States under the statute. But the significance of the case is especially broad: this is the first time America has prosecuted a head of state for allegedly authorizing torture in his own country.
Prosecutors are seeking to expand the case, which also includes drug trafficking charges. Legal experts estimate that testimony from torture victims, including three American citizens, may strengthen the prosecution and place allegations of systematic political repression at the center of the trial. The trial of Maduro and Flores is expected to open in June 2027.
