U.S. Military Denies Social Media Claims Of Airstrikes On Caracas

United States defense officials and Venezuelan authorities moved swiftly on Monday to reject viral social media posts alleging that American forces had carried out bombing raids on Caracas, labeling the claims entirely false and unsupported by any operational or satellite evidence.

Pentagon Calls Reports Fabricated And Irresponsible

Unverified messages describing alleged "U.S. bombs" hitting targets near the Venezuelan capital began spreading late Sunday across social networks and encrypted messaging apps, accompanied by recycled images from past conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. Within hours, the posts had been shared thousands of times in Venezuelan diaspora communities and by anonymous accounts that frequently amplify geopolitical rumors.

A Pentagon spokesperson, speaking to U.S. reporters on background Monday, said there had been "no U.S. military operations of any kind" in Venezuelan territory over the weekend. "Any suggestion that American aircraft or missiles have struck Caracas is completely fabricated," the official said, adding that routine monitoring of regional airspace showed no unusual activity.

Independent defense analysts who track flight paths using open source tools also reported no evidence of U.S. combat aircraft operating near Venezuelan airspace in the last 48 hours. "We have seen no patterns that would match an airstrike," said one researcher with a European based monitoring group, citing publicly available transponder data and satellite imagery from commercial providers.

Venezuelan Authorities Urge Calm Amid Rumor Surge

In Caracas, government officials appeared eager to prevent panic. Interior Minister Remigio Ceballos addressed the claims in a brief televised statement Monday afternoon. "There have been no foreign attacks on our territory," he said. "Our air defense systems report normal conditions, and our cities are functioning with complete normality." He urged residents to avoid sharing "alarmist messages" that lacked verifiable sources.

Local media outlets dispatched reporters to several neighborhoods mentioned in the online posts as supposed impact sites. Journalists found no damage, emergency response activity or eyewitnesses who could corroborate the claims. One resident in the western sector of the city told an independent broadcaster that neighbors had briefly gone outside to check for explosions after receiving messages from relatives abroad, but "there was nothing, only fireworks from a nearby event."

Municipal authorities in the capital said emergency call volumes rose slightly Sunday night and early Monday, mainly from concerned residents seeking information. By midday Monday, calls had returned to normal levels, according to a statement from the city’s civil protection agency.

Misused Images And Coordinated Posting Patterns

Fact checking organizations in the region spent much of Monday tracing the origins of the alleged bombing images. Cazadores de Fake News, a Venezuelan disinformation monitoring group, reported that one of the most widely shared photographs actually came from a 2019 fuel depot fire in eastern Europe, while another was taken during a 2021 explosion at a chemical plant in Asia.

The group identified a cluster of newly created accounts that simultaneously posted the false claims in Spanish and English, often tagging high profile political commentators to increase visibility. "We saw synchronized activity that suggests an organized effort rather than spontaneous confusion," the organization said in a preliminary report, while cautioning that it was too early to attribute the campaign to any specific actor.

Regional security analysts noted that Venezuela has been a frequent target of geopolitical rumor operations, particularly involving speculative scenarios of foreign military intervention. "These narratives tap into long standing fears and political rhetoric on all sides," said a Colombian based researcher who studies online information warfare. "They are designed to provoke emotional reactions before anyone has time to verify the facts."

Diplomatic Channels Monitor For Fallout

Diplomatic observers in Washington and several Latin American capitals said they were monitoring the situation for any potential miscalculations, although they stressed that the current episode appeared confined to the digital sphere. A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. diplomats were in contact with regional partners to ensure that "no one mistakes online fabrications for real world events."

In Caracas, foreign ministry officials did not immediately issue a separate statement on the rumors but used their social media channels to share the interior minister’s comments and footage of routine activity in the capital. Regional organizations, including the Organization of American States, had not reported any emergency consultations related to Venezuela as of Monday evening.

Experts warned that even short lived disinformation spikes can have lasting effects if they reinforce existing narratives of confrontation. "When people repeatedly see messages about imminent bombings or invasions, it normalizes the idea that such scenarios are likely or even inevitable," said a professor of political communication at a university in Chile. "That can harden attitudes and make diplomatic solutions harder to sell to domestic audiences."

Calls For Stronger Verification And Public Education

The latest incident has renewed calls from journalists, academics and civil society groups for stronger verification practices among both citizens and media outlets. Several Venezuelan newsrooms published editorials on Monday pledging not to reproduce claims of foreign military action without on the ground confirmation and multiple independent sources.

Digital rights organizations urged platforms to respond more quickly to clear cases of misattributed images that fuel panic. They also advocated for long term media literacy campaigns that teach users how to check image origins, cross reference reports and identify suspicious posting patterns. "The tools exist, but many people do not know how to use them under the pressure of an emotionally charged moment," one advocate said.

As of early Tuesday, online mentions of the alleged U.S. bombing had declined sharply, according to regional monitoring projects, although some accounts continued to insist that a cover up was underway despite the absence of physical evidence. Analysts expect similar rumor cycles to recur as Venezuela remains at the center of regional political debates, underscoring the challenge of maintaining factual clarity in a crowded and polarized information space.