Maduro and Cilia Flores plead not guilty at hearing in New York on charges of torturing opponents

The additional charges, filed last Thursday, significantly expanded the U.S. criminal case against Maduro, 63, and Flores, 70. Both men previously pleaded not guilty to charges that they abused their power to help drug traffickers transport cocaine. His lawyers said they also deny the torture allegations.

Maduro and Flores, captured by the American military in an operation carried out in January on the orders of President Donald Trump and taken to New York, are expected to be questioned about their statements regarding the torture accusations during an evidentiary hearing scheduled for 12 pm Brasília time, before federal judge Alvin Hellerstein, in Manhattan federal court.

Prosecutors from the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan say Maduro ordered authorities to torture opposition politicians and military officials accused of conspiring against him, with the aim of staying in power in the South American country.

In one of the episodes described in the complaint, Maduro allegedly ordered, in 2014, authorities to kidnap military personnel to obtain information about possible dissidents. When some of them continued to resist, he reportedly told the agents that they should “squeeze them tighter.”

According to the complaint, Flores agreed to the plan during the meeting and rejected an alternative proposal to obtain information by infiltrating the ranks of potential dissidents.

Maduro and Flores are not accused of having personally carried out any act of torture. Their trial is scheduled to begin on June 1, 2027. If convicted of all charges, each will face a mandatory minimum sentence of 50 years in prison.

Relations between Maduro, a socialist, and the United States were tense during the 13 years he was in power at the head of the oil-rich country.

Successive US administrations have imposed sanctions on senior Venezuelan officials and key state-owned companies, citing alleged human rights violations, corruption and electoral fraud. Maduro accused the United States of trying to remove him from power to gain greater control over the South American country's natural resources.

The pressure campaign culminated in the operation on January 3, when American soldiers captured Maduro and Flores at the couple's residence in Caracas and took them to the United States to face drug trafficking charges announced that same day. Since then, the two have been detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

Maduro's former vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, assumed leadership of Venezuela after his capture and expanded cooperation with the United States. Trump presented the capture of Maduro and the resumption of relations with Venezuela as an important success of his foreign policy on the eve of the mid-term legislative elections on November 3, in which his Republican supporters are fighting to maintain control of Congress.