Video of Nicolás Maduro being escorted by US security officers is AI-generated
- Published on January 13, 2026 at 14:31
- Updated on January 13, 2026 at 14:36
- 2 min read
- By Tolera FIKRU GEMTA, AFP Ethiopia
In January 2026, the US seized and removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from his Caracas compound following an organised military assault on the capital. A video circulating on social media in Ethiopia claims to show Maduro being escorted by US security officers following his capture. However, the video was generated using artificial intelligence (AI).
The post, shared on Facebook on January 3, 2026, contains text in Afaan Oromoo, one of Ethiopia’s major languages.
“America had captured the Venezuelan President,” it reads.
The video contains six seconds of footage showing Maduro with his hands secured behind his back, while uniformed officers escort him from a plane.
The letters “DEA” are visible on the officers’ uniforms.
“DEA” stands for Drug Enforcement Administration, a federal US agency (archived here).
About 200 US military personnel were part of the operation that saw Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores seized from their compound in Venezuela's capital, Caracas, on January 3, 2026. They were taken to the United States, accused of running a narcotics empire. (archived here).
He pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges at an appearance in a New York court on January 5, 2026 (archived here).
However, the video that purports to show Maduro being escorted by security forces was generated using AI tools.
AI-generated video
AFP Fact Check identified several anomalies in the clip.
Although Maduro appears to have his hands tied behind his back while security officers hold his arms, his movement remains unencumbered, indicating a lack of physical restraint.
The heads of the two officers behind him are also unnaturally distorted, a common feature of AI-generated videos.
We also compared the AI-generated footage with video released by CNN of Maduro arriving in New York at night. Although the media footage is dark and grainy, several differences are still noticeable.
In the CNN video, a large crowd waits for Maduro as he steps off the plane, whereas only four officers appear in the AI-generated clip.
In the real footage, Maduro walks slowly and is seen wearing a grey or light blue top. In the AI video, he moves briskly and is wearing a black cardigan and white shirt with a collar.
Finally, the plane that delivered Maduro to the US is larger and has longer stairs (visible at the eighth-second mark) than the aircraft in the AI clip.
AFP Fact Check used InVID-WeVerify to conduct reverse image searches on keyframes from the AI-generated clip.
The results revealed various versions of the AI-generated video, and images, one of them debunked by AFP Fact Check’s Spanish/Arabic service.
However, we were unable to trace the origin of the video in question.
AFP Fact Check has previously debunked various AI-generated pictures related to Maduro’s capture here.
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