Americans sue Venezuela’s Maduro for anguish caused by imprisonment, alleged torture [Video]

MIAMI – A former U.S. Marine and a Florida man who were imprisoned in Venezuela have sued President Nicolás Maduro, accusing the leftist leader of heading a vast “criminal enterprise” that has co-opted the state and uses American citizens as bargaining chips in negotiations with the U.S.

The complaint filed Monday in Miami federal court by Matthew Heath and Osman Khan is similar to a slew of lawsuits that have resulted in major judgments for Americans imprisoned in Venezuela. All sought damages under a little-used federal law, the Anti-Terrorism Act, that allows American victims of foreign terror groups to seize the assets of their victimizers.

The latest lawsuit alleges that security officials under the command of Maduro subjected the men to a pattern of torture — waterboarding, electrocution, threats of rape with a nightstick, mind-altering medications and the repeated use of a cramped cell nicknamed “El Tigrito” — that is also being looked at …