JUST IN: Nicolas Maduro & Wife to Face Additional Charges for Torture of Americans

BREAKING: Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are expected to face additional charges as soon as tomorrow. The new charges are related to the alleged torture of Americans, Fox News has confirmed. pic.twitter.com/bFNnEIbGoB

— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 7, 2026

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Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores are expected to face new charges over the alleged torture of Americans held in Venezuelan government custody in recent years, according to multiple people familiar with the investigation. https://t.co/94GTPBK96S pic.twitter.com/Ou42vWXZrq

— CNN (@CNN) October 7, 2026

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More than a dozen Americans were detained by the Maduro government, which was accused by US government and advocates of using them as political pawns.

Several of the Americans have spoken out about the torture say they were subjected to while they were imprisoned. Matthew Heath and Osman Khan, who were freed in a prisoner swap in October 2022, alleged in a lawsuit that they were subjected to waterboarding, electrocution, threats of sexual assault, use of mind-altering drugs, and periods of solitary confinement. Heath, a US Marine veteran, attempted suicide while he was detained.

The “CITGO 6,” a group of six American oil executives who were lured to Venezuela in 2017 and detained for nearly five years, also say they were subjected to brutal conditions while in Venezuelan detention. In lawsuits filed against their employer — Citgo — Tomeu Vadell, Alirio Jose Zambrano and Jose Luis Zambrano said they were subjected to torture while imprisoned.

All of them had been held in the notorious General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) — which was “responsible for arbitrary detentions, ill-treatment and torture of political opponents and their relatives,” according to a United Nations report.

That report found that DGCIM “routinely resorted” to torture practices “including electric shocks, suffocation with plastic bags, waterboarding, beatings, sexual violence, water and food deprivation, stress positions and exposure to extreme temperatures” in order to “extract information and confessions, intimidate, and punish the detainees.”

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The additional charges are expected to be announced in Manhattan federal court, according to Fox News’ David Spunt and Jake Paronich.

U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald is expected to speak after a 10:30 a.m. hearing.

That hearing was scheduled to address a request by Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores de Maduro, to be released from custody because of ongoing medical problems, including a heart condition.

The expected charges would add to a case already involving allegations of cocaine trafficking, narco-terrorism and weapons offenses.

Maduro and Flores deny the allegations and have sought to dismiss the case on sovereign immunity grounds.

Federal prosecutors pushed back in a recent court filing, arguing neither defendant is entitled to that protection and that Venezuela has not asserted immunity on their behalf.

The government noted that the U.S. has not recognized Maduro as Venezuela’s head of state since January 2019.

“The defendants are former rogue officials of a formerly rogue state with no entitlement to immunity,” prosecutors wrote.

They argued that foreign sovereign immunity is “a matter of grace and comity on the part of the U.S., and not a restriction imposed by the Constitution.”

Prosecutors also argued that the alleged cocaine trafficking, narco-terrorism and weapons offenses violated the law rather than served any legitimate government function.

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