EFE. — A federal judge in the United States has ordered former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and several other senior Chavista officials to pay $314 million in damages in a lawsuit filed by more than a dozen U.S. citizens alleging kidnapping, torture, and terrorism. The ruling did not include Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, among those required to pay.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida also held Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, Agriculture Minister Vladimir Padrino, businessman and former minister Alex Saab, the criminal organization known as the Cartel of the Suns, Maikel José Moreno Pérez, Néstor Luis Reverol, and Tarek William Saab liable in the case.
For now, Judge Darrin P. Gayles excluded Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez, state-owned oil companies Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and Corporación Venezolana del Petróleo (CVP), and the remaining defendants from the monetary judgment.
The plaintiffs include Jerrel Kenemore, Jason Saad, and Edgar Marval, who participated in a 2023 prisoner exchange during the U.S. President Joe Biden administration (2021–2025). That exchange secured the release of Alex Saab, whom U.S. authorities detained again in May. Saab now faces a preliminary money laundering hearing in Miami next week.
The plaintiffs, including several former hostages held in Venezuela and two minors, filed the lawsuit in August 2025. They renewed the case in January through a new motion following Maduro’s capture by U.S. troops in Caracas on January 3. Authorities later transferred him to New York, where he remains in custody while facing narcoterrorism charges.
The lawsuit accuses the Chavista leadership of violating the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), the Florida Anti-Terrorism Act, and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
In his ruling, Judge Gayles stated that Maduro “has historically kidnapped and arbitrarily detained U.S. citizens to exchange them for Venezuelan criminals imprisoned in the United States.”
The court also concluded that “Maduro committed acts of international terrorism,” and found that the “kidnapping, torture, and arbitrary detention” of Kenemore, Marval, and Saad violated both U.S. federal law and Florida state law.
The ruling further accused the former Venezuelan leader of engaging in “narcoterrorism” with the apparent “purpose of intimidating or coercing the civilian population of the United States.”
This civil case runs parallel to the criminal proceedings Maduro currently faces in New York on drug trafficking charges, where his wife, Cilia Flores, also remains in custody.
Meanwhile, former Venezuelan minister and Colombian businessman Alex Saab, whom U.S. authorities identify as Maduro’s alleged frontman, continues to face money laundering charges in Miami.
