On January 3, 2026, the United States conducted a special military operation in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, and detained President Nicolás Maduro. Following this, an image claiming to show the Venezuelan President being arrested by the American army has been circulating on social media.
See the post circulating on Facebook with this claim here (archive).
Fact-check
Rumor Scanner’s investigation found that the image circulating as a real scene of President Nicolás Maduro’s arrest is not authentic. In fact, the image was created using artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
An investigation into the image revealed several inconsistencies typically found in AI-generated content, such as anomalies in the soldiers’ uniforms, the positioning of weapons, and the hands placed on the Venezuelan President’s arm.
To further confirm this, Rumor Scanner tested the image using the AI content detection tool ‘DeepFake-o-meter’ with the ‘GLFF (2024)’ model. The analysis indicated an 89% probability that the image was generated by AI.
It is noteworthy that on January 3, 2026, a verified photo of the Venezuelan President in custody was shared by Donald Trump on his Truth Social account. In that official image, Nicolás Maduro is seen blindfolded and wearing different clothing than in the viral AI image. Furthermore, a video posted by the official White House account ‘Rapid Response 47’ on X also shows Maduro in a different outfit.
Therefore, an AI-generated image has been circulating as a real scene of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s arrest, which is misleading.
Sources
- DeepFake-o-meter: GLFF (2024)
- Donald J. Trump: Truth Social Post
- Rapid Response 47: X Post
- Rumor Scanner’s Analysis