Venezuelan Information Minister Freddy Nanez accused US Secretary of State Marco Rubio of misleading President Donald Trump by presenting him with an AI-generated video that was later shared by Trump and the official White House account as evidence of a US military operation in the Caribbean against drug traffickers.

In a post on his Telegram channel, Nanez shared an analysis of the video, highlighting several indicators of fabrication. He noted that the ship explosion resembled “simplistic cartoon animation,” the water lacked realism, and “motion distortions” along with missing details revealed the footage was artificially generated to deceive viewers.

🚨 BREAKING: President Trump just released the video of the U.S. military STRIKING a drug boat from Venezuela heading to America carrying ELEVEN Tren de Aragua narcoterrorists, who were kiIIed in the strike

TRUMP: “Earlier this morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces… pic.twitter.com/axQAWxjJhm

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 2, 2025

"It seems that Marco Rubio continues to lie to his president: after cornering him, he now presents an AI video as 'proof' (which has already been confirmed) ... Stop inciting war and trying to stain the hands of President Donald Trump with blood," Nanez said on Telegram.

He also called on Washington to “stop trying to tarnish the president’s reputation” with fabricated content that, he warned, could trigger a dangerous escalation.

On his part, Venezuelan lawmaker Gilbert Jimenez told RIA Novosti that the US account of a vessel being destroyed was dubious, noting it was unlikely that traffickers would attempt to move cargo through the Caribbean while US forces were active in the area. He argued that the report served as a pretext for aggression against Venezuela.

President Nicolas Maduro has previously accused Rubio of steering White House policy on Caracas and trying to push Donald Trump toward a military confrontation with Venezuela. Caracas has consistently maintained that US naval deployments in the Caribbean were not tied to counter-narcotics operations but are instead aimed at exerting pressure on the country.

Trump announces strike on alleged drug vessel from Venezuela

The US military killed 11 people on Tuesday in a strike on a Venezuelan vessel allegedly transporting narcotics, President Donald Trump claimed. It marked the first reported operation since his administration deployed warships to the southern Caribbean.

“We just, over the last few minutes, literally took out a boat, a drug-carrying boat, with a lot of drugs on board,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “And there’s more where that came from. We’ve had drugs pouring into our country for a long time … These came out of Venezuela.”

Trump later posted a video on his Truth Social platform, which appeared to show drone footage of a speedboat at sea being struck, exploding, and then burning.

According to Trump, the strike killed 11 “terrorists” while no US forces were harmed. He claimed the crew belonged to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which Washington designated as a terrorist group in February. Trump also repeated accusations that Maduro controls the group, allegations Caracas has consistently rejected.

Read more: Maduro urges Venezuelans to join military to defend sovereignty