Well, here's an interesting development. CNN is reporting this as an exclusive, and its sources are "people familiar with the investigation," so take that as you will. But I find it plausible, and the outlet says that it could happen as soon as Thursday, October 8.
"Prosecutors in New York are expected to bring new charges against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores over the alleged torture of Americans who were held in Venezuelan government custody in recent years," according to CNN.
The charges would be related to the wrongful detention of at least 12 people from the United States — people who were kept in Venezuelan prisons during Maduro's reign of terror. They could also be brought against his wife Cilia Flores for her role in the torture, as well as several other people involved in the detentions.
(If, at the very least, Diosdado Cabello isn't one of them, I'll have questions. Technically, Delcy Rodríguez should be one too.)
Maduro loved to use foreign hostages as political pawns and bargaining chips, especially with the "imperialists," but in July 2025, with the help of Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele, all remaining prisoners from the United States were released and sent home. Many have told their stories over the years and claim they were treated pretty badly.
Here's more from CNN:
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. 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.'
Both Maduro and Flores currently sit in jail cells at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, after the U.S. military swept into Caracas on January 3, 2026, and arrested them and brought them back to New York. They have since pled "not guilty" to their current charges, which include narco-terrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, and the use of machine guns and destructive devices to support drug trafficking and other narcotics offenses.
Maduro's lawyers have attempted to dismiss those charges by claiming he is "immune from prosecution because he is head of a foreign state and the charges are based on acts undertaken in his official capacity on behalf of Venezuela."
Unfortunately for him, the United States did not recognize him as the head of a foreign state. Not only did he run sham elections in 2024, but he also managed to lose them, yet he still declared himself the winner.
Maduro's next court appearance is Nov. 17, 2026. His full criminal trial begins on June 1, 2027.
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