January 19, 2026 | 11:59 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A video claiming Venezuelans took to the streets to celebrate the arrest of President Nicolas Maduro by the United States (US) circulated on Instagram [archive] on January 4, 2026.
The account owner stated that some Venezuelans took to the streets and shouted for freedom. Meanwhile, several countries and international parties have highlighted the legal and geopolitical implications of the United States' actions.
But is the video showing Venezuelans taking to the streets after Nicolas Maduro's arrest real?
FACT CHECK
Tempo verified the content through visual inspection, using a reverse image search tool, an artificial intelligence (AI) content detector, and comparing it with information from credible sources. The results showed that the content was artificially created.
Using Google Images Reverse Search, the search results led to the TikTok account @thekindtraveler. In the caption, the uploader stated that the video was not his work, but rather obtained from the Instagram account ia.comediante [archive].
The Portuguese-language account openly captioned the video: "Comediante Artificial - IA Humorista. Comédia gerada por IA. Roteiro, voz e vergonha: tudo artificial" (Artificial Comedian - Humorist AI. Comedy generated by AI. Script, voice, and embarrassment: all artificial).
Visual Verification
From the first seconds, several protesters were seen unfurling a large Venezuelan flag in the back row. Manual analysis revealed a visual anomaly between the first and 12th seconds, when one of the flags, originally with seven stars, changed to eight. An oddity was also visible in the fingers of a male demonstrator holding the arm of a female demonstrator.
Such visual anomalies are a hallmark of temporal consistency failures in artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content. Tempo confirmed this finding through testing using the detection tools Hive Moderation and Image Whisperer. Both systems concluded the video was artificial intelligence, with a probability score from Hive Moderation reaching 99.8 percent.
Likewise, the deepfake voice detection tool, Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector, assessed the authenticity at only 28 out of 100. The analysis stated that the voices of residents screaming in the video were most likely deepfakes.
Venezuelans React to Maduro's Arrest
In several parts of the world, the Venezuelan diaspora abroad celebrated Maduro's abduction due to the authoritarian leadership he has maintained for 13 years. However, PolitiFact reported that anti-Maduro sentiment within Venezuela appeared subdued following the US arrest. Fortune reported that the streets of Caracas were largely deserted in the days following the US raid. The Associated Press also captured the calm atmosphere on the streets of the capital.
Meanwhile, several countries, including Russia, Iran, Colombia, the European Union, Germany, Belgium, and Spain, condemned the kidnapping. In a post on social media, Colombian President Gustavo Petro called for a UN Security Council meeting and declared that the US attack constituted an act of aggression against Venezuelan and Latin American sovereignty.
CONCLUSION
Based on Tempo's investigation, the claim that a video of Venezuelans taking to the streets celebrating President Maduro's abduction by the US is false.
TEMPO FACT CHECK TEAM
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