Venezuela's Maduro and wife plead not guilty to US torture charges

NEW YORK — Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores pleaded not guilty on Thursday to a new US indictment accusing them of conspiring to torture political opponents. The additional charges, brought last Thursday, significantly expanded the US criminal case against Maduro, 63, and Flores, 70. They previously pleaded not guilty to charges that they abused their power to help drug traffickers ship cocaine. Maduro and Flores, captured by the US military in a January raid ordered by President Donald Trump and flown to New York, entered their pleas at an arraignment before US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan federal court. Prosecutors with the Manhattan US Attorney's office say Maduro directed officials to torture opposition politicians and military personnel accused of plotting against him to maintain power in the South American country. In one alleged incident described in the indictment, Maduro in 2014 directed officials to kidnap military personnel to draw information out of them about possible dissidents, and told officials to "squeeze them harde