A photo showing Cilia Flores, the wife of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, with a black eye and a bandage on her forehead started making waves online. People got furious.
Viral Photo of Cilia Flores With Black Eye
The image blew up right after Maduro and Flores showed up in a New York court on Monday, January 5. That’s where Maduro pleaded not guilty to charges from the US and called himself a “prisoner of war.”
The photo of Flores, bruised and bandaged, was shared by Motasem A Dalloul (@AbujomaaGaza) on X, and it soon racked up 1.8 million views, 28,000 likes, and got reposted nearly 7,000 times. People were talking.
But the thing is, the image wasn’t real. A fact-check found that someone used artificial intelligence to make it. You can tell right away if you look at her hair colour, it doesn’t match. The photo doesn’t actually show what Flores looked like in court.
Still, that didn’t stop some media outlets from reporting that Flores’s lawyer told a federal judge she actually did get “significant injuries” when she was captured in Venezuela.
During the hearing, her attorney, Mark Donnelly, told senior US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein that Flores suffered “significant injuries during her abduction.” He said she might have fractured a rib or had some serious bruising and needs a medical check.
The US government stands by the operation. Maduro keeps denying any wrongdoing and says the capture left him with injuries, too.
When did the US capture Maduro?
On January 3, 2026, the US launched airstrikes on Venezuela and took President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, into custody.
They called it Operation Absolute Resolve. Everything kicked off around 2 a.m. local time, people heard explosions, and that was the first sign things were happening.
Maduro pushed back, denying any wrongdoing. He claimed the US set up Venezuela and stirred up chaos just to force a change in power.
Delta Force, one of America’s most secretive and elite military units, handled the mission. These are the folks you call for dangerous jobs: counter-terrorism, hostage rescues, taking out or grabbing high-value targets, and deep reconnaissance.
The US didn’t hold back on firepower, either. They sent in B-1 Lancers, F-22 Raptors, F-35 Lightnings, F/A-18 Super Hornets, EA-18 Growlers, and E-2 Hawkeyes for the mission. The goal was clear: capture the Venezuelan president.
