Inspecting image of Maduro giving thumbs up next to DEA agent

In early January 2026, an image (archived) circulated online purportedly showing captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro giving a “thumbs up” while standing handcuffed next to a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, during an overnight mission in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, on Jan. 3. The operation reportedly left dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban officers dead. According to The Associated Press, U.S. officials were holding Maduro at the the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, while he awaited trial.

One X user who posted the picture wrote:

Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is said to have willingly took pictures with several of the DEA, FBI, and other law enforcement officials who escorted him to the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York City on Saturday.

(X user @sentdefender)

The image also circulated on Facebook (archived), Threads (archived), Instagram (archived) and Reddit (archived). 

Snopes could not independently verify whether the image was authentic, meaning not generated or edited using artificial intelligence software. It was also unclear at the time of this writing where or when the picture was taken or who took it, if it was real. Given the lack of verifiable information, we left this claim unrated.

Several unknowns

According to online AI detectors Hive Moderation and SightEngine, the image was not likely to have been AI-generated. Google’s Gemini AI language model said it did not detect SynthID — an invisible watermark that Google embeds in content created by its generative AI consumer products — in the photo. Such detectors are not always completely reliable.

Snopes contacted the DEA for confirmation on whether the picture authentically showed one of its agents standing with Maduro. We will update this article if we receive a reply.

It was not possible to determine the origin of the photograph. Reverse image searches on Google Images and TinEye indicated it started spreading online on Jan. 4, 2026, the day after the Venezuelan president’s capture. 

On Jan. 3, the White House’s @RapidResponse47 X account posted a “perp walk” video (archived) showing Maduro wearing the same clothes as seen in the image in question. That same day, reputable photo agency Getty Images published a picture of the Venezuelan president arriving in New York wearing a black hoodie that resembled the one seen in the “perp walk” video and the alleged DEA agent photo.

The image circulated concurrently with several other images (archived, archived) of Maduro with the DEA that Snopes has not verified, one of which allegedly showed him wearing a blue hoodie from a Maine apparel company.

For further reading, Snopes debunked a photo and video relating to the capture of the Venezuelan president.

Sources