The US prosecutor's office also accuses Maduro and his wife of torture in addition to drug trafficking.

The US Prosecutor's Office has presented this Thursday a new charge sheet against the ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, adding torture to the drug trafficking crimes that the couple was already facing, in prison in New York since the North American special forces captured them in an operation in January in Caracas.

Maduro and Flores have been accused of conspiracy to commit torture according to the brief filed this morning in federal court in Manhattan. Prosecutors provide specific cases and evidence, such as that of a Venezuelan soldier who was arrested in 2013 on suspicion that he was planning a coup d'état. According to the document presented, members of the Venezuelan Military Counterintelligence Directorate interrogated the officer, applying electric shocks with a high-tension cable about 20 times and hanging him by his hands and feet for several minutes.

Likewise, the New York authorities cite what was reported by a US citizen detained in 2020 upon entering Venezuela, who was accused of conspiring to assassinate Maduro and who, according to the document, was also tortured by counterintelligence officers using blows and electric shocks to his arms, legs and genitals.

The charges come the same day that Flores, who faces the possibility of 40 years in prison for drug trafficking crimes, is scheduled for another hearing to formally request her release on parole for health reasons while she awaits her drug trafficking trial, which is not scheduled until 2027 at the earliest. The couple's lawyers will ask veteran judge Alvin Hellerstein for permission for the former first lady to undergo a heart procedure and recover in a private home. The legal team argues that Flores would have lost 11 kilos during his incarceration at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. That he suffers from "persistent dizziness, lightheadedness, and difficulty breathing," and may even have suffered a mild heart attack in July. In addition, they say, she has permanent scars after being thrown against a wall or a dresser during the operation that led to her capture.

Her lawyers have asked for the case to be dismissed, citing immunity for being the leader and first lady of a foreign country. But in the meantime, the proposal is to move to a private chalet, with a tracking device and permanent security guards. The Delcy Rodríguez Government would cover the costs, as would the very expensive legal defense of the former president.