Look out for image of handcuffed Maduro in bloodied shirt

In January 2026, soon after U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, an image spread on social media purportedly showing Maduro in custody while covered in blood.

The picture spread across X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and other social media outlets. The image in question appeared to show a handcuffed Maduro being held between U.S. military personnel while wearing a white shirt stained with what appears to be blood. In the image, Maduro appeared to be standing beneath bright lights.

(X user @adduXfiles)

This was not an authentic photograph of Maduro in custody. Someone fabricated it, likely using artificial intelligence software, to resemble the Venezuelan leader at the time of or shortly after his capture. As such, we have rated the image as fake.

We ran the image through Google's reverse-image search tool and found no news sources that authenticated the image or proof that any real photographer shot the image.

Snopes also ran the image through AI-detection tools AI or Not, SightEngine and Hive Moderation. AI or Not determined a very high likelihood that the image was a deep fake, while Sight Engine and Hive Moderation determined a low likelihood. (Research shows AI-detection software is imperfect, and readers should consider the tools' results with skepticism.) 

Even without AI-detection tools, the image was clearly fake, as evidenced by the unnaturally smooth skin on Maduro and the agents' faces and hands. The blood on Maduro's white shirt was also inconsistent, visible only on his front buttons and collar and not on the white vest underneath. The blood also appeared to stain only his left sleeve, not his hand. 

The uniform of the agent on Maduro's right also was inconsistent with publicly available images of uniforms worn by security personnel who had custody of him. The uniform had no label on the front chest identifying the man as a Drug Enforcement Administration agent. Photographs from Getty Images, a reputable image bank, show Maduro was in the custody of DEA agents after his capture. 

If the image were a real photograph taken in Venezuela as soon as Maduro was captured, it almost certainly would have appeared in news coverage of the event. As of this writing, there are no photographs of Maduro at the moment he was captured, other than satellite images of the military base he reportedly was taken from. 

Maduro was captured by the U.S. Army's Delta Force, an elite special operations unit, according to U.S. officials. Delta Force is a highly secretive unit and its operations and the identities of its soldiers are often classified. For example, in October 2023, the White House social media accounts deleted a photograph of former U.S. President Joe Biden meeting Delta Force soldiers in Israel, reportedly because their faces were visible in the image. Thus, given the secretive nature of the operation in Venezuela, it is highly unlikely that a photo showing the faces of the soldiers capturing Maduro would be publicly available.  

As we have reported before, many verifiable photos and videos of Maduro in custody are available from official sources, including posts from White House-affiliated social media accounts.

U.S. President Donald Trump posted one such image on his social media platform, Truth Social, with a caption reading, "Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima." The Venezuelan leader was blindfolded, handcuffed and wearing a gray sweatsuit in that image.

Additionally, Reuters published authenticated pictures of Maduro surrounded by federal agents and a video titled, "Maduro arrives in Manhattan via helicopter for court appearance."

Snopes has looked into numerous claims regarding Maduro's capture. We debunked an AI-generated video purportedly showing Venezuelans thanking Trump and celebrating Maduro's seizure, as well as another fake image of Maduro being escorted by DEA officers. We also examined a satirical rumor that U.S. immigration authorities accidentally sent Maduro back to Venezuela.