Five Venezuelan families have brought their fight to Brooklyn, filing a federal civil suit this week that accuses former president Nicolás Maduro of ordering extrajudicial killings carried out by an elite police unit known as FAES. The complaint says the men were taken from low-income neighborhoods in pre-dawn raids and later executed, and it seeks money damages because, according to the plaintiffs, Venezuela’s own courts offer no real path to justice. For safety, the families are identified only as “Doe” in the filings.
Court records show the case, titled Doe v. Maduro Moros, No. 1:26-cv-03924, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, according to Bloomberg Law. It is the latest in a series of attempts to haul senior Venezuelan officials into U.S. courts over alleged human rights abuses.
What the complaint says
The 44-page filing describes recurring tactics it alleges were used by FAES officers: all-black uniforms, faces covered, and early-morning operations that pulled young men away from their families before they were shot. The complaint calls FAES “widely considered a ‘death squad,’” as reported by AFP, and argues that the five killings are part of a broader pattern of state violence under Maduro’s rule.
Why the suit landed in Brooklyn
The families brought the case to Brooklyn in large part because Maduro is already in U.S. custody and, they say, legal remedies in Venezuela are unsafe or ineffective. Maduro was seized in a U.S. operation in January and later pleaded not guilty to narcotics and weapons charges in New York, remaining detained while that criminal case moves forward, according to The Associated Press. His presence in U.S. custody, combined with the federal filing in the Eastern District, gives American judges their first practical opportunity to weigh the families’ civil claims.
Legal questions ahead
The suit is brought under the Torture Victim Protection Act, a federal law that lets victims pursue civil claims in U.S. courts for torture and extrajudicial killings carried out under color of foreign authority. The plaintiffs will still have to navigate difficult questions, including whether a sitting or former head of state can sidestep civil liability through immunity in U.S. courts, a topic with a tangled legal history. Prior TVPA cases that reached trial, such as the lawsuit against former Bolivian president Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, show that these claims can get to a jury yet still face serious procedural roadblocks, as outlined by the Center for Constitutional Rights.
What’s next
The families are asking for both compensatory and punitive damages under the TVPA and want a Brooklyn federal judge to hold Maduro civilly responsible for the killings. The case listing and complaint appear on the Eastern District of New York docket, and the plaintiffs’ legal team now has to complete formal service on the defendants and push the case forward in the coming weeks, according to Bloomberg Law. With Maduro already facing a separate criminal prosecution in New York, this new civil case is poised to run on a parallel track while courts sort out immunity and jurisdiction questions.
For Brooklyn readers, the lawsuit is a reminder that the Eastern District’s courthouse on Cadman Plaza has quietly become a venue where global human rights battles play out. Keep an eye on the EDNY docket and early pretrial motions, which will determine whether a local jury ever hears the families’ full story.
.jpg){kind=link}