Venezuela's Maduro YouTube account goes offline as U.S. military deployment strains tensions
State media says the account was eliminated; Google has not commented as Washington expands naval presence in the Caribbean.
The YouTube account of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was offline Saturday, with state-run broadcaster Telesur saying it had been 'eliminated' late Friday without justification. The account had more than 200,000 followers and published Maduro's speeches and clips from his weekly program on state television.
YouTube's parent company Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment. YouTube's policies say accounts can be terminated for repeated violations of community guidelines, including publishing misinformation, hate speech and content that interferes with democratic processes. Maduro has been accused by opponents of manipulating last year's vote; tally sheets collected by Venezuelan opposition activists argued Maduro lost, while Venezuela's elections agency, controlled by the ruling socialist party, did not publish official tally sheets to corroborate the government’s claim of victory.
In New York, Maduro was indicted in 2020 on charges of conspiring to traffic cocaine to the United States. The White House has since raised the stakes, doubling a bounty for Maduro’s capture to $50 million, and officials have often described Maduro as a drug cartel leader who must be brought to justice.
The outage comes as tensions between Caracas and Washington have grown over the deployment of eight U.S. warships last month to the southern Caribbean near Venezuela’s coast. The ships are equipped with long-range missiles and are transporting a landing force of about 2,000 Marines on an anti-drug-trafficking mission, according to U.S. officials. Venezuela's government has denounced the flotilla as an assault on sovereignty and an effort to overthrow Maduro, while the White House says the mission is aimed at disrupting drug trafficking. The U.S. side has said its actions have already destroyed three speedboats allegedly carrying drugs, killing more than a dozen people aboard the vessels.
The online outage underscores the broader contest over messaging and international legitimacy in a crisis that shows no sign of easing, with both sides accusing the other of aggression even as Venezuela continues to rely on oil sales to the United States.