Families sue former Venezuelan President Maduro in US court

Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, currently detained in the United States, faces a new civil lawsuit alleging he oversaw a state security unit responsible for extrajudicial killings and torture. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, was brought by the families of five Venezuelan men killed between 2017 and 2021.

The lawsuit accuses Maduro of creating and commanding Venezuela's Special Action Forces, known as FAES, which it describes as a death squad used to violently suppress dissent and terrorize low-income neighborhoods. The families are seeking compensatory and punitive damages under the Torture Victim Protection Act, a U.S. law allowing civil claims for torture and extrajudicial killings committed under foreign state authority.

According to the complaint, FAES officers routinely carried out killings following a specific pattern. They allegedly entered homes before dawn wearing black clothing and face coverings, separated young men from their families, executed them, and then staged crime scenes to make it appear the victims had resisted authority. The lawsuit details five specific incidents and also accuses FAES...