Old footage of toppled statue circulates after Maduro ouster

"The left protests Venezuela being free... Meanwhile in Venezuela, they're dragging Hugo Chavez statues through the streets. You can't make it up," says a January 5, 2026 post from conservative US podcaster Chad Prather.

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Screenshot from X taken January 9, 2026

Similar posts circulated across X in both English and Spanish, with some claiming the statue had been dedicated to Maduro.

Chávez governed Venezuela between 1999 and 2013. He chose Maduro -- who had served as a lawmaker, foreign minister and vice president -- as his successor prior to his death from cancer.

The video's spread followed the ouster of Maduro, who along with his wife Cilia Flores was captured amid airstrikes on Caracas and flown to the United States. The two pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in a New York court January 5.

Thousands of people marched through Caracas that day in support of Maduro as his former deputy, Delcy Rodriguez, was sworn in as interim president. Some Venezuelans abroad, meanwhile, have celebrated the removal of the authoritarian left-wing leader.

But the video circulating online does not show a toppled statue or Chávez -- nor Maduro -- paraded through the streets.

A reverse image search unearthed the same footage published to X in a July 2024 post that said the statue was of Indio Coromoto, a symbol of the left-wing Chavismo ideology based on Chávez's ideas (archived here). The post placed the incident in Guanare, in the state of Portuguesa.

Subsequent keyword searches for an Indio Coromoto statue surfaced various Spanish-language news articles about the incident from July 29, 2024, as well as additional videos that show the moment the statue was toppled and another perspective of its dragging from the back of a vehicle (archived here, here, here, here and here).

The arm, outfit and other identifying features of the Indio Coromoto statue are visible in each of the videos, including the recording being misrepresented.

The demonstration took place a day after a contested July 28, 2024 election in which Maduro claimed victory, during which protests flared across the country and statues of Chávez were knocked down.

AFP has debunked other misinformation about Maduro's ouster here.