How AI images of Maduro emerged within hours of his seizurepublished at 01:38 GMT 6 January

01:38 GMT 6 January

By Thomas Copeland

AI images claiming to show Nicolás Maduro in custody after he was seized by the US have gained tens of millions of views online.

Maduro was captured by the US in the early hours of Saturday morning. The first fake AI image apparently showing him being escorted off a plane emerged within hours.

The image was not shared by any official US channels, but instead posted on X by an “AI video art enthusiast” account.

We’ve checked it using Google’s SynthID AI-watermark detector, which found it was generated or edited with Google AI.

More AI-generated pictures spread in the ensuing hours, appearing to show more angles of Maduro in custody.

Visible watermarks on these images show they originated from an Instagram account called ultravfx, whose profile describes it as being run by a “Professional in artificial intelligence”.

SynthID says all of these further images were generated or edited with Google AI.

Donald Trump posted the first real photo of Maduro handcuffed aboard the USS Iwo Jima ship on Saturday morning. But even after this real photo was published AI-generated images continued to spread but were updated to include the grey tracksuit worn by Maduro.

Reverse image searches show these updated fakes were first posted on TikTok by a graphic design account.

Once again, SynthID AI-watermark detector says these further images were generated or edited with Google AI.

US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has told the media that the US "has an absolute legal right" to arrest people like Nicolas Maduro.

In an interview, external with NBC News earlier, Blanche said "this was not an invasion of a country", and that capturing the Venezuelan leader over the weekend did not "violate any international law".

He said the mission was about "securing the arrests of two individuals wanted for very, very serious crimes in the United States".

For context: Several legal experts interviewed by the BBC believe the US operation to bring Maduro to New York violated the UN Charter and other international law.

Image source, Reuters

Naomi de Souza and Barbara George
BBC Newsbeat

Image source, Miah Sanchez

One young British Venezuelan tells BBC Newsbeat her extended family, who live in Venezuela, are fearful and reporting “insanely long” queues at the shops.

“My aunt is genuinely scared” says Miah Sanchez.

The US-born 22-year-old studies in Florida but grew up in the UK.

“When my aunt went to buy bread, the lines were insanely long, people are panic buying, no one knows what the next move is,” she says.

Miah feels celebrations are tempered by uncertainty.

“I am happy Maduro’s gone but I am also torn and feel conflicted. I feel like Trump has ulterior motives," she says, noting Venezuela's major oil reserves. "I feel like Trump has the intention of capturing him and weakening Venezuela to come and take the resources."

Miah says she “desperately” wants to go back and see her family in Venezuela.

“Venezuela just feels like home to me, the food, the culture, the people, the people are so nice, no matter where you go you meet a Venezuelan person, they are just so warm,” she adds.

“I feel like our culture is so beautiful and it’s a shame that people don’t get to see that.”

There are reports shots were fired late Monday near Venezuela's presidential palace, witnesses said, with a source close to the government adding the situation was under control, AFP reports.

Unidentified drones flew over Miraflores Palace in central Caracas and security forces reportedly opened fire in response at around 20:00 local time (0000 GMT), a source told AFP.

The news comes hours after Maduro's Deputy President Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in as interim president.

Venezuela's presidential palace, officially called the Miraflores Palace, is the usual head office of the president and is located in the Libertador Bolivarian Municipality of Caracas.

Representative Brian Mast, a Republican, is now speaking after the briefing.

Mast, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs committee, says US capabilities to maintain order in the country's backyard is unparalleled. He says that is what peace through strength looks like.

House Speaker Mike Johnson says the situation in Venezuala is not a regime change, instead it's demanding a change of how a regime rules.

"We don't expect troops on the ground, or direct involvement, beyond coercing the new government," he says.

Johnson has just finished speaking and answering questions following a briefing with Trump administration officials on the situation in Venezuela.

House Speaker Mike Johnson says intelligence around the Venezuela operation was so sensitive that it could have been leaked and caused damage to US forces.He also says Congress retains full oversight.

On international law, Johnson says the US "has never accepted any interpretation that the UN Charter limits the use of force solely to responses to armed attacks".

"The US has always maintained the right to use force to defend our national interest, to preserve the safety of the American people and to prevent ongoing threats to its security," he says. "Venezuela's state-sponsored drug trafficking constituted a persistent violation of US sovereignty and a direct threat to the safety of our citizens."

Speaker Johnson says tonight's briefing was the 20th bipartisan briefing on Venezuela so far. All members of Congress will be briefed on Wednesday, he adds.

Johnson also says "we are not at war" and that US forces are not in Venezuela as such the president did not need congressional approval.

Abby Godard
on Capitol Hill

Image source, Reuters

After meeting behind closed doors for nearly two-and-a-half hours, US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson emerges from the briefing precise in his message.

The Louisiana congressman, who typically speaks off the cuff, delivers prepared remarks, calling the US military capture of Maduro a "decisive and justified action" against a "regime [that] functioned as a criminal organisation".

Johnson says Trump is "putting Americans first" and that as commander-in-chief, the president acted within his constitutional authority.

Discussing the new Venezuelan leadership under Maduro’s Vice-President, Delcy Rodríguez, the Speaker says the US hopes Caracas will change its ways.

"We have a way of persuasion," he says, "because their oil exports, as you know, have been seized, and I think that will bring the country to a new governance in very short order."

We're watching lawmakers hurry out of the room as journalists shout questions at them but get no replies. We're waiting to see if anyone will come and speak, like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer just did.

House Speaker Mike Johnson could speak soon.

Image source, Reuters

We are hearing from Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the US Senate. He has just left the classified briefing.

He says this briefing was "vague" and "unsatisfying".

He said Trump administration officials did not give him assurances they wouldn't try the same things in other countries.

Could Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro be found not guilty in a US court?published at 00:38 GMT 6 January

00:38 GMT 6 January

Maduro made a first appearance in federal court in New York today where he and his wife are charged for engaging in an alleged cocaine-trafficking conspiracy and partnering with cartels designated as terrorist groups.

He pleaded not guilty.

But how likely is it that US federal prosecutors secure a conviction against the man who has led Venezuela for 13 years?

In the latest Americast episode, we answer your questions, which includes looking at the evidence against Maduro, and whether it’s possible a court could find him not guilty. We also answer your questions on who is really running Venezuela now.

You can listen to the episode hosted by BBC Radio 4's Justin Webb here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Image source, EPA

Behind closed doors at the US Capitol right now some of the Trump administration's top officials are speaking to a select group of lawmakers.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth are among those at the Venezuela briefing. Outside the room, dozens of reporters have been waiting to see what happens next.

There are several microphones set up, as we wait to see who will speak - if anyone.

When that does happen, we'll bring you a live stream at the top of this page.

Stick with us.

Ahmed Adan

US president Donald Trump has said he wants American oil companies to invest in Venezuela’s oil industry.

Political and energy analyst José Chalhoub - formerly an analyst at the state-owned Venezuelan oil and gas company PDVSA - told the BBC’s Business Daily podcast that he doubts US oil companies will want to return and invest again in the South American country.

“You have to create an entirely different system, an entirely different political system, for the US companies, because [...] these types of companies are averse to taking risks,” Chalhoub says.

He adds that US companies will be considering what happened to companies like Hallypargin, Shrumager, Exxon, and Conoco, "that were subjected to the expropriation of assets by the former government of Hugo Chavez".

Chavez, who was in power from 1999 to his death in 2013, changed the laws around foreign companies investing in Venezuela's oil industry and required them to invest in the state-owned PDVSA. Companies that did not agree had their assets seized but were then compensated following international arbitration.

Chalhoub also argues that Venezuelan people “would not care who owns” the oil companies, as long as economic conditions in the country improve.

He is, however, sceptical about the short-term changes to Venezuela.

“There’s still uncertainty about what’s going to happen in the next days, weeks or months," he says, adding it depends on how Trump is "going to negotiate with the current government.”

To improve the oil production and export, a huge reform is needed, Chalhoub adds.

You can listen to the full episode.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Today we've seen photos from the wake of Venezuelan Rosa Gonzalez, 80, who died following the US strikes on 3 January.

Gonzalez was based in La Guaira, one of several areas around the capital Caracas struck by jets during a mission to seize Maduro.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Exxon are all planning on meeting with administration officials, the BBC's US media partner CBS News reports, citing two sources.

In a press conference he gave after the US operation this weekend, President Trump had said American companies would be investing in the Venezuelan oil industry.

Maduro has previously alleged that Trump is using his "war on drugs" as a pretext to access the country's oil reserves.

Earlier today, we reported that shares in US energy companies had increased. Over the course of the day, the Dow Jones Index rose by over 1.2% and the S&P 500 by around 0.6%.

In a joint statement, the Republican chairman and top-ranking Democrat of the Senate Judiciary Committee expressed unhappiness that they were not invited to the classified briefing now underway for top congressional leaders.

Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa and Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, pointed to statements by Trump and others that Maduro's capture was part of a law enforcement operation by agencies that fall under the committee's supervision.

“There is no legitimate basis for excluding the Senate Judiciary Committee from this briefing," they say in the statement. "The administration’s refusal to acknowledge our Committee’s indisputable jurisdiction in this matter is unacceptable and we are following up to ensure the Committee receives warranted information regarding Maduro’s arrest.”

For context: Maduro was taken to the US to face criminal conspiracy charges. He pleaded not guilty today in a federal court. The committee oversees the justice department, which brought the charges.

Referring to the humanitarian situation in Venezuela, the UN has said that almost eight million Venezuelans are in need of urgent support as the country continues to grapple with a long-running economic crisis. That's more than one quarter of the country's population.

Speaking at a daily briefing earlier, the UN Secretary-General's spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, said: "Our colleagues from the office of the coordination of humanitarian affairs tell us the situation in Venezuela remains dire.

"We continue to provide assistance to the most vulnerable, including food, healthcare and protection services," he added.

Image source, Getty Images

US President Donald Trump has just given an exclusive interview to NBC News, external in which he says that the US is not at war with Venezuela and that there will be no new elections there in 30 days.

"We’re at war with people that sell drugs. We’re at war with people that empty their prisons into our country and empty their drug addicts and empty their mental institutions into our country," Trump says.

The president says that before an election in Venezuela can take place, "we have to fix the country first".

"You can’t have an election. There’s no way the people could even vote," he adds. "No, it’s going to take a period of time...We have to nurse the country back to health."

When asked who ultimately is in charge of the nation, Trump says: "Me."

Alice Cuddy
Reporting from Cúcuta on the Colombia-Venezuela border

I’ve just been speaking over the phone to 60 year-old Jose in Caracas.

He says the US strikes on Saturday were “really crazy”, but that today it is “work as usual” in the city, with people returning to their jobs.

“They took the leader out but the regime is the same so in that sense nothing has really changed,” he says.

He adds that people are not able to talk freely about what is happening, with a heavy police and military presence on the streets, as well as pro-Maduro armed groups.

He hopes there will be elections soon but says “we will have to see what happens”.