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Although President Donald Trump鈥檚 administration has been openly hostile to Venezuelan President Nicol谩s Maduro for months, there鈥檚 no sign Maduro has given up power as a result.
Still, Trump a screenshot of an Dec. 1 that read, "BREAKING: Venezuelan President (Maduro) publicly surrendered to President Trump!!"
Trump鈥檚 post included of Maduro giving a speech along with the caption, "BREAKING: Venezuelan President just publicly surrendered to President Trump! Maduro has now turned in state evidence against the Biden admin & is releasing proof that Biden asked the Venezuelan government to ship Tren de Aragua dr*g gangs into the US."
Trump鈥檚 administration has pressured the Venezuelan government with more than in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean against what he describes as drug boats from Venezuela and Colombia. He has also to drug cartels on land and the world鈥檚 largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, among an armada of U.S. ships in the waters off Venezuela.
But Maduro didn鈥檛 recently publicly surrender or turn in state evidence showing proof that Biden was involved with members of the Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua prison gang.
The Trump shared is from a February speech Maduro gave during a Venezuelan government event. Translated from Spanish, the name of the event was a "high-level workshop of the people's government."
We also translated the part of Maduro's speech that Trump shared. In it, Maduro says: "I respectfully tell President Donald Trump to request FBI and DEA reports from the last four years, specifically from their offices in Colombia, so that you, President Trump, can see who financed, who moved, who directed the infamous Tren de Aragua, who brought it to Colombia, and who brought it to the United States."
Maduro said his administration "dismembered" and eliminated Tren de Aragua, and he accused the group of operating in Colombia and having "deep ties" to the Biden administration.
"If anything can be said about the terrorism of the Tren de Aragua 鈥� the now-extinct Tren de Aragua 鈥� it is that they wanted to attack the country鈥檚 cities with terrorism, and we prevented it with intelligence and action," Maduro said. "President Trump, request those reports so that you can see 鈥� I say this sincerely and respectfully 鈥� the truth about the infamous Tren de Aragua. Our migrants are not criminals. They are not bad people, they were people who migrated as a result of the sanctions, they are good people, hardworking people."
Although Maduro alleged in his speech that the Biden administration was involved with Tren de Aragua, he provided no evidence, contrary to what Trump鈥檚 post said.
Venezuelan investigative journalist Ronna Risquez, who a book about Tren de Aragua, said in a March 18 that that the Venezuelan government had sent Tren de Aragua members to the U.S.
We found no credible news reports saying that Maduro "publicly surrendered." Rather, news coverage has shown Maduro energetically engaging with his constituents. He made news for publicly before a Caracas crowd to music that featured a remix of his past speeches in which he said, "No war, yes peace."
On Dec. 1, Maduro the song and said the U.S. hasn鈥檛 been able to "take us down with their psychological terrorism."
On Dec. 2, he shared a that showed him ordering Venezuelans to "work, and work more, and to party."
And on Dec. 3, Maduro a TikTok video showcasing an aerospace exhibition.
We rate Trump鈥檚 claim that the February video of the Venezuelan president shows him surrendering Pants on Fire!
