Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is facing a new legal challenge in the United States after the families of five Venezuelan men filed a civil lawsuit accusing him of overseeing a Venezuelan police unit responsible for extrajudicial killings and torture during his presidency.The complaint alleges Maduro created Venezuela's Special Action Forces, known as FAES, and exercised command over the unit as it allegedly carried out a campaign of extrajudicial killings between 2017 and 2021.The families are seeking compensatory and punitive damages under the Torture Victim Protection Act.The lawsuit opens a second legal front for Maduro in the United States, where he is already awaiting trial on federal drug trafficking and weapons charges.
The complaint says venue is proper in the U.S.District Court for the Eastern District of New York because Maduro is currently detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.TRUMP 'SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING' PLAN TO MAKE VENEZUELA AND ITS $40 TRILLION IN OIL PERMANENT PART OF USAMark Donnelly, lawyer for the wife of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Cilia Flores, attends a hearing in a narco-terrorism case accusing Maduro of running a cartel of Venezuelan officials that flooded the U.S.
with cocaine, at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Court House in New York City, U.S., March 26, 2026 in this courtroom sketch.(Jane Rosenberg)According to the complaint, FAES officers routinely entered homes before dawn wearing black clothing and face coverings, separated young men from their families, forced many to their knees, executed them and then staged crime scenes to make it appear the victims had "resisted authority." Plaintiffs also allege officers looted homes, planted weapons and transported victims to hospitals after they had already died in an effort to conceal the alleged killings.The lawsuit details five incidents between 2017 and 2021 involving six victims and also accuses FAES officers of torturing thr...