AI-generated mugshot of deposed Venezuelan leader spreads online
- Published on January 19, 2026 at 10:00
- 3 min read
- By Sammy HEUNG, AFP Hong Kong
Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro has been indicted on charges including "narco-terrorism" and detained at a New York facility after he was captured from his Caracas home by US forces in January 2026. An image circulating online supposedly depicts his mugshot, but the picture was flagged as made using Google's AI tools while an analysis found it contains several visual errors.
"Photo of Maduro serving a sentence in a US prison has been unveiled," reads a simplified Chinese X post published on January 9, 2026.
The featured image, viewed over 290,000 times, apparently shows Maduro in an orange prison uniform, with his hair and beard shaved.
The post surfaced after US commandos captured Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores in the early hours of January 3 in Caracas, backed by warplanes and a heavy naval deployment, and flew them to the United States on President Donald Trump's orders (archived link).
The pair made their first appearance in a New York court on January 5, pleading not guilty to "narco-terrorism", drug trafficking and other charges. The judge ordered both to remain behind bars and set a new hearing date for March 17 (archived link).
The image was also shared on Chinese forum Zhihu, US-based Chinese-language news site Creaders.net, as well as in Spanish posts on X, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
While some users questioned the authenticity of the image, others commented on Maduro's shaven look, and said he looks a lot "cleaner" and "spirited".
"It's okay! The kids in American prisons will take good care of Maduro (in every sense)," a user wrote.
Another person said: "It suits him well, but he looks like a completely different person."
However, an analysis using Google's SynthID detector, a tool designed to identify AI-generated content, indicates a "high" degree of confidence that the image was generated using the platform's AI tools (archived link).
A separate analysis using The Verification Plugin, also known as InVID-WeVerify co-developed by AFP, found there is "very strong evidence" that the visual was generated by AI.
A prominent mole can be seen on Maduro's chin in a photo taken by AFP in September 2025, and in a picture shared by Trump after his capture, but it is missing in the circulating mugshot (archived link).
Maduro's skin appears overly smooth in the image, a visual inconsistency commonly seen in AI-generated images.
According to the inmate locator website of the US Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Maduro is being held in the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn -- the largest federal pre-trial holding facility in the United States (archived here and here).
His BOP register number is "00734-506" -- not "D-0329" as shown in the fabricated image.
Keyword searches on Google did not find any mugshot of Maduro released by the detention centre or US authorities.
The Department of Justice's policy bans the release of mugshots for all defendants charged with federal crimes. An exception is allowed when the defendant is a fugitive and releasing their photo would "serve a legitimate law enforcement function" (archived link).
AFP reached out to the department and the detention centre, but no responses were forthcoming.
Other fact-check organisations such as Verificador, EFE Verifica and Newtral have also reported that the image is AI-generated (archived here, here and here).
AFP has debunked other fabricated images that purport to show Maduro after his capture.
Copyright © AFP 2017-2026. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
