As Maduro Is Charged — Again — in U.S. Court, 4 Documentaries Offer Backstory

U.S. authorities levied new charges this week against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

Maduro and Flores had previously been charged with drug trafficking, and pleaded not guilty, after their dramatic capture in a U.S. military operation in Caracas, Venezuela, in January of this year.

Now, prosecutors are alleging that the duo conspired to torture perceived political opponents, including U.S. citizens, to hold onto power.

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Maduro’s lawyer said in a statement Thursday that the former Venezuelan leader denied the new indictment’s charges, and Maduro and Flores’ lawyers have argued that sovereign immunity should prevent them from being prosecuted in U.S. courts.

How did Maduro run Venezuela? How were Venezuelan citizens impacted by his policies? And how has the relationship between the oil-rich country and the U.S. played out over the years?

FRONTLINE has examined those questions in multiple documentaries from both before and after Maduro’s ouster. Watch them below.

In the weeks after Maduro’s capture, FRONTLINE and The Associated Press collaborated on an examination of President Donald Trump’s yearslong efforts to oust him, the legacy of corruption and suppression of political opposition in Venezuela, and the fight over who would control the country and its oil. The documentary probes Venezuela’s uncertain future, the U.S. role, and the Maduro insiders left in charge. It also examines what happened, in the weeks after Maduro’s fall, to prisoners believed to have been detained for their political beliefs during his tenure.

With the Venezuelan investigative news outlet Armando.info, this documentary chronicles how journalists uncovered a far-reaching corruption scandal benefiting Maduro and his associates — and the price those journalists paid. Initially released in early 2024, A Dangerous Assignment offered a look at how the Maduro government operated, going inside a “food fraud” scandal connected to one of Maduro’s signature domestic aid initiatives. This 2025 update recounted what happened during Venezuela’s disputed 2024 presidential election and its aftermath, including the imprisonment of Maduro’s perceived foes.

In the years prior to Maduro’s ouster, nearly a million Venezuelans fled to the U.S. to escape their country’s political and economic turmoil. This documentary with ProPublica chronicled one Venezuelan family’s story, sharing their experience of what life was like under Maduro, and then in the U.S. amid shifting immigration policies.

The torture charges against Maduro and Flores cover a period stretching back decades to their time as members of previous Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s government. Released from FRONTLINE’s archives for streaming this year, this documentary investigated the on-the-ground realities of Chávez’s policies, his relationship with the U.S., and his government’s handling of dissent. Chávez died of cancer five years after the documentary was released. Taking the reins, and vowing to carry on his governing model, was his vice president and hand-picked successor: Maduro.