Conspiracy theories are exploding after the U.S. attack and capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, but it’s the viral videos and photos of Maduro that are causing a sensation, along with the different outfits he was pictured in on his way to New York.
President Donald Trump posted the first photo of a blindfolded Maduro aboard the USS Iwo Jima after he was captured early Saturday, Jan. 3, wearing a gray Nike Tech sweatsuit. The photo went viral, along with memes and videos of his outfit.
In addition to the sweatsuit, Maduro was later seen wearing another outfit after getting off a plane at Stewart Air National Guard Base in New York.
In that photo, he’s seen giving the thumbs up while handcuffed and sitting in a chair surrounded by DEA agents. But it’s what he’s wearing that’s causing the uproar. He’s in different clothing from photos taken after he was first apprehended.
He’s wearing a blue pullover that news reports say was given to him by one of the DEA agents posing next to him in the picture, black pants and slide sandals with white socks.
Social media is having a field day, with fake and AI-generated videos of Maduro spreading like wildfire.
Some users are suggesting that the photos of Maduro wearing different clothing show his capture by U.S. forces was “staged.”
“Four different outfits within 17 hours on the day he was abducted. Why did they change Maduro’s outfits? It was all staged. It’s always a clown show with the Trump administration,” a Threads user speculated.
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“He sure doesn’t look like someone worried about prison,” another Threads user observed.
“He’s so in on this,” a poster on Instagram commented.
Another video making the rounds on social shows Maduro in a van with its doors open as the military appears to parade Maduro through the streets of the Big Apple.
The video is captioned, “Pedophile exhibits Maduro in an open door van. Now who else who publicly exhibits their captives like trophies?…Hamas and Isis.”
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Others pointed out the temperature difference between New York and Venezuela as the reason for Maduro’s wardrobe change.
The Trump administration bombed parts of the nation’s capital of Caracas overnight Friday, before capturing the Maduros and whisking them away to New York to stand trial on federal drug trafficking and weapons charges.
The pair appeared in a New York court Monday, Jan. 5, and pleaded not guilty to the charges which were brought against them in an indictment in 2020 and a newer superseding indictment by the Justice Department, according to the Hill.
Maduro has denied allegations of drug trafficking in the past.
It’s unclear who’s actually in charge in Venezuela. Trump told reporters Sunday, “We’re in charge.” But Maduro’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as president shortly after Maduro’s capture.
