Fact Check: Video Shows US Army Exercise at Fort Bragg, Not Venezuela Operation

A video from 2025 of U.S. soldiers demonstrating an assault at an army base in North Carolina has been miscaptioned online as the moment in January 2026 that troops landed in Caracas to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The footage, which shows soldiers fast-roping onto a building from a hovering Chinook helicopter, has been circulating on social media with captions such as “BREAKING US special forces (Delta Force) have just landed in Caracus, #Venezuela.”

However, a Reuters fact-check has determined that the video predates the actual U.S. military operation in Venezuela by more than six months and depicts a completely different event.

Margo Martin, a special assistant to U.S. President Donald Trump, originally posted the video to X on June 10, 2025. The footage was part of a series of visuals from Trump’s visit to Fort Bragg Army base in North Carolina, where the president attended ceremonies marking the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary.

Reuters photographers captured the same military demonstration from a different angle, showing the identical tactical exercise. In the Reuters images, the back of Trump’s head is visible as he observed the demonstration from a short distance away, confirming the time and location of the footage.

The misattribution of the video highlights the continuing spread of misinformation surrounding the unprecedented January 3, 2026, U.S. military operation in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. That operation, which shocked the international community, saw American forces enter the Venezuelan capital and apprehend the country’s leadership in a swift action that drew both praise and criticism from various global actors.

Following their capture in Caracas, Maduro and Flores were transported to New York, where they faced serious criminal charges. The Venezuelan president was charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and possession of machine guns and destructive devices. His wife faces similar charges related to cocaine trafficking and weapons possession.

Both Maduro and Flores have pleaded not guilty to all charges. Their arrest came after years of escalating tensions between the United States and Venezuela, with Washington repeatedly accusing the Maduro regime of drug trafficking, human rights abuses, and undermining democratic institutions.

The misrepresentation of the Fort Bragg exercise video as footage from the Venezuela operation demonstrates how easily military imagery can be taken out of context during significant geopolitical events. The false narrative spread rapidly across social media platforms despite the clear chronological impossibility, as the training exercise video was publicly available six months before the actual operation in Venezuela occurred.

The incident underscores the importance of verifying information before sharing it, particularly during fast-developing international situations when the appetite for immediate visual confirmation often outpaces the availability of genuine footage from the scene.

This pattern of miscaptioning military videos is not uncommon during international conflicts or high-profile operations, with archival footage frequently mislabeled as current events, contributing to confusion and misunderstanding about complex geopolitical developments.

Media literacy experts recommend checking the original source of videos and images, confirming dates, and cross-referencing with trusted news sources before accepting claims about footage of major international events.