Question

The White House has published the first photo of the captured Maduro.

Answer 1

When you first click on the link you are brought to a post by a user named MilitaryNewsUa. That states that "The White House has published the first photo of the caputred Maduro", along with a pitcure of a man that appears to be Maduro. In the photo he is handcuffed and is wearing an army combat uniform with a small Ukrainian flag on the side. This photo being claimed as the "first published photo" from the White House of Madura's capture is false. The first source that proves this is The New York Times which does have a photo of madero but in a different photo and that has been circulated through various media outlets which gives it even more credibility. The second source I found was from the Guardian to prove that this claim is not only false but also the picture associated is digitally altered to look like it was Maduro. The original photo was of a man named Viktor Medvedchuk who was disguised as a Ukrainian solider which also explains the Ukrainian flag on the side of the army combat uniform. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/world/americas/maduro-photo-trump.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/12/ukraine-arrest-putin-ally-viktor-medvedchuk
 

Comments

This article is not misleading, because it correctly reports that President Trump had posted an image, he claimed that showed Nicolas Maduro blindfolded and handcuffed after his capture of the U.S. forces. However, I can see how people would think this article is misleading, because the authenticity of the image itself has not yet been verified and viewers could assume the photo is confirmed documentary evidence.

Answer 2

This is clearly Photoshopped photo of Maduros head onto another body. The skin color of the hands is different from the skin color of the head. The Uniform has a Ukranian flag patch on it. The light is all wrong. Trump Released the actual first photo of him

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/world/americas/maduro-photo-trump.html

This article shows trumps original truth social post and explains it more.

Comments

I disagree. That shared image is not officially verified. Fact checkers have found that the image was digitally altered or AI-generated.

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I really liked your answer, it was straight and to the point. I also like that you added an article for additional information, but it might be better to cite more than one article in the future just to make sure.

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I like how you explained what is wrong with the photo for people who may have never seen what Maduro looks like

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Good insight. It was straightforward, informed readers it was a fake, and showed proof of it.

Answer 3

The photo itself, of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in custody, is undoubtedly heavily doctored and fabricated. Specifically, it looks like it is his face, pasted on the body of a Viktor Medvedchuk, who is a Ukrainian politician who was arrested under the suspect of treason. I found this through a reverse image search of the photo, yet I believe the original post was made out of satire. The Bluesky account that made the post seems to be mostly reporting of the war between Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Iran, and other global conflict zones. This post specifically is identifiable by the own user's comment explaining that the post is satire. 

Sources:

ORIGINAL PHOTO

BBC article on Maduro

CNN article on Maduro

blueksy account that made post

Answer 4

I disagree with this. There is no official post by the White House that has this photo. Though the information on his capture is true, the photo associated with it is not.

Answer 5

In my investigation of this claim, I have found that it is false. The claim is by Bluesea and MilitaryNewsUA on bsky.app.Their reputation on the app is not trust worthy as many people have claimed that the image is photoshopped. I believe their agenda was just to have fun or make random claims as their first comment was that they hoped everyone understood it as a joke. This claim is proven false by Yahoo News and that the first actual people of Maduro were proven by CNN and New York Times. My primary sources are Yahoo News and The New York Times. A quote from Yahoo is, “The original version of the image predated Donald Trump's January 3, 2026, announcement on Truth Social (archived here) about the capture of the Venezuelan president. The image of Medvedchuk had appeared on the Telegram channel of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.” This proves that the image was photoshopped and that it was not Maduro but a Ukrainian man who faced treason and was in a prisoner swap in 2022. And from The New York Times, “President Trump posted a photograph on social media on Saturday that he said was of the captured Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, on board a U.S. warship hours after the United States seized him in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.” This is the actual photo of Maduro captured and it was posted by Donald Trump not the White house. This claim has an article proving that the original photo was fake and another article proving the real photo of the captured Maduro and who it was by. Yahoo News got their information from Uliana Malashenko, a journalist who specializes in live and investigative reporting. The New York Times got their information from Ashley Ahn who also is in live reporting. There is only one claim from the MilitaryNewsUA user that Maduro was captured and doing further research it seems that it was just a joke that they made it look like it was real. However, there were other claims showing the real capture of Maduro that was posted by Donald Trump which is the original source. 

Sources: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/world/americas/maduro-photo-trump.html

https://bsky.app/profile/militarynewsua.bsky.social/post/3mbj4wv6dv22t

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/fact-check-viral-image-captured-230657065.html