Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores wave after his swearing-in ceremony for a third term at the National Assembly in Caracas (AP photo)
Her lawyers argued that she has medical conditions that cannot be properly treated in prison and could instead be kept at a New York residence under 24-hour security. Flores, 69, has lost 25 pounds, or about 11 kg, while being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, according to her lawyers.
The indictment says thousands of Venezuelans were “harassed, threatened, arrested, prosecuted, assaulted, tortured, or killed” by people acting at the direction of his government. Maduro has previously faced lawsuits in US courts brought by Americans who said they were beaten while detained in Venezuela. They said she had suffered permanent scarring after being “thrown against a wall or dresser” during the US operation that led to her capture. They said doctors had told her she might require heart surgery and that she continues to suffer from “lingering lightheadedness, dizziness and shortness of breath”. They also said she may have suffered a minor heart attack in July. Prosecutors opposed her release, describing her as an “extreme risk of flight and danger to the public”. They said she had already been taken to a local hospital when medical treatment was required. The Trump administration has described the operation that captured Maduro as a “surgical law enforcement operation”.
US authorities have added torture allegations to the criminal case against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of helping oversee a system of abuse aimed at silencing political opponents and keeping his government in power. The new allegations accuse Maduro of authorising torture, arbitrary detention and violence against opponents during his time as president. He has denied wrongdoing. Maduro has described himself as a prisoner of war and called his capture a kidnapping.