NEW YORK, Oct 16 — Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty this morning to a new US indictment accusing them of conspiring to torture political opponents.
The additional charges, brought last Thursday, significantly expanded the US criminal case against Maduro, 63, and Flores, 70. Both had previously pleaded not guilty to charges that they abused their power to help drug traffickers ship cocaine.
Maduro and Flores, who were captured by the US military in a January raid ordered by President Donald Trump and flown to New York, entered their pleas during an arraignment before US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein at a federal court in Manhattan.
The couple wore tan prison uniforms and were shackled at the ankles during the hearing.
When Hellerstein asked Maduro to enter his plea, the former president said the allegations had been made previously and were false.
"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 said a plea of not guilty would be entered on his behalf.
Flores told 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 would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 50 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
Hellerstein postponed the trial's start date by two weeks to June 14, 2027, following the filing of the new charges.
'Squeeze them harder'
Prosecutors from the Manhattan US Attorney's Office allege that Maduro directed Venezuelan officials to torture opposition politicians and military personnel accused of plotting against him to maintain his grip on power in the South American country.
In one alleged incident detailed in the indictment, Maduro directed officials in 2014 to kidnap military personnel to extract information about possible dissidents.
When some remained defiant, he allegedly instructed officials to "squeeze them harder".
According to the indictment, Flores agreed with the plan during the meeting and dismissed an alternative proposal to obtain information by infiltrating the ranks.
Relations between Maduro, a socialist, and the United States were tense throughout his 13 years in power in the oil-rich country.
Successive US administrations imposed sanctions on senior Venezuelan officials and key state-owned companies, citing alleged human rights violations, corruption and election-rigging.
Maduro, meanwhile, accused the United States of seeking to remove him from power to gain greater control over Venezuela's natural resources.
Captured at home
The pressure campaign culminated in a January 3 raid, when US military personnel captured Maduro and Flores at their home in Caracas and brought them to the United States to face drug trafficking charges announced that same day.
The couple have since been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Maduro's former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, has led Venezuela since his capture and has increased cooperation with the United States.
Trump has portrayed Maduro's capture and the reset in US-Venezuela relations as a major foreign policy success ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, in which his fellow Republicans are fighting to retain control of Congress.
