Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is confronting another legal battle in the United States, this time in a civil case brought by the families of five Venezuelan men who accuse him of directing a police force tied to alleged extrajudicial killings and torture during his time in power.
In the complaint, the families claim Maduro established Venezuela’s Special Action Forces, widely known as FAES, and maintained authority over the unit while it allegedly carried out a pattern of unlawful killings from 2017 through 2021. The plaintiffs are pursuing compensatory and punitive damages under the Torture Victim Protection Act.
The filing adds a new legal front for Maduro in the U.S., where he is already awaiting trial on federal drug trafficking and weapons charges. The complaint argues that the case belongs in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York because Maduro is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
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Mark Donnelly, attorney for Cilia Flores, the wife of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, appears at a hearing in a narco-terrorism case accusing Maduro of leading a cartel of Venezuelan officials that moved cocaine into the United States, at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in New York City, U.S., March 26, 2026, in this courtroom sketch. (Jane Rosenberg)
The lawsuit describes FAES raids in which officers allegedly arrived at homes before dawn dressed in black and wearing face coverings, separated young men from their families, forced many of them to kneel, and then executed them. The plaintiffs claim officers later staged the scenes to suggest the victims had “resisted authority.” The complaint also alleges that officers stole from homes, planted weapons and took victims to hospitals after they were already dead as part of an effort to cover up the killings.
The case cites five incidents spanning 2017 to 2021 and involving six victims. It also alleges that FAES officers tortured three relatives by beating or detaining them, or by forcing them to witness the killings, before Venezuela’s justice system failed to provide accountability.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs, Maduro’s lawyer Barry Pollack and Amnesty International did not immediately respond to News Agency’s requests for comment.
A courtroom sketch shows ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with his wife, Cilia Flores, Flores’ lawyer, Mark Donnelly, and Maduro’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, as they attend a hearing in a narco-terrorism case accusing him 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. (Jane Rosenberg)
The lawsuit alleges Maduro established FAES in 2017 as a special tactical unit within Venezuela’s National Bolivarian Police and later publicly defended the force despite criticism from the United Nations and other human rights organizations. It cites reports from the United Nations, Human Rights Watch and the U.S. State Department documenting allegations of widespread human rights abuses by the unit.
The families argue they have been unable to obtain justice in Venezuela because prosecutors either refused to pursue investigations or failed to hold senior officials accountable, leaving them without an effective legal remedy in their home country.
Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is arrested. (Fox Nation)
The Torture Victim Protection Act allows civil claims in U.S. courts over alleged torture and extrajudicial killings committed under the authority of a foreign government.
Maduro served as Venezuela’s president from 2013 until 2026, according to the complaint. He has pleaded not guilty in his criminal case and has previously described himself as a “prisoner of war.”
