At the beginning of 2026, the capture and extraterritorial removal of Nicolás Maduro as part of a military operation conducted by the United States (U.S.) in Venezuela did not circulate within Nicaraguan media as an ordinary piece of “foreign news”; on the contrary, due to the country’s already sharply polarized media landscape, the event produced two distinct and competing spheres of meaning. In Nicaragua, the divide between official or pro-government media outlets and independent media—many of which operate in exile or exclusively online—becomes even more pronounced in the face of such regional shocks. Consequently, the news of “Maduro’s capture” was positioned, on the one hand, at the core of a narrative emphasizing violations of sovereignty and imperial aggression, while, on the other hand, it was transformed into a development analyzed through its regional repercussions, legal implications, and the potential risks it could pose for the Nicaraguan regime.
In the narrative of Nicaragua’s official media—particularly outlets aligned with the government such as El 19 Digital and those close to the state broadcaster Canal 4—the capture of Maduro is not presented as a “change of government” in Venezuela, but rather as a new phase of U.S. aggression directed toward Latin America.[i]
Statements issued by the government and speeches delivered by regime-affiliated figures in El 19 Digital consistently associate the operation with concepts such as “intervention” or “attack”; moreover, in a speech attributed to Daniel Ortega, the event is explicitly characterized as an act of “terrorism” carried out without the authorization of any international institution.[ii] Within this narrative, debates concerning questions such as “who is right” or “what kind of leader Maduro is” are relegated to a secondary position, while the primary emphasis is placed on the United States’ illegitimate use of force and the “precedent” it is argued to create for other countries in the region.
Pro-government media portray the forcible capture and extraterritorial removal of Maduro as a direct assault on sovereignty. Within El 19 Digital’s news production practices, even condemnation statements issued by third countries (for example, China) are circulated as forms of “evidence” reinforcing Nicaragua’s own position: concepts such as “violation of international law,” the “United Nations (UN) Charter,” and the “fundamental norms of international relations” are mobilized not so much to frame the event as a legal debate, but rather to anchor it in a broader anti-U.S. moral–political judgment. Along this official line, the Maduro case is also linked to Nicaragua’s internal political security, as the notion that “what is done to Venezuela today could be done to other countries tomorrow” implicitly serves a function of social mobilization. When combined with the government’s recurring discourse of “peace, security, and unity,” the external threat is shown to operate as a mechanism for producing domestic legitimacy. In the official discursive flow of El 19 Digital, repeated emphases on “peace,” “unity,” and “security” constitute typical markers of this broader narrative framework.
Within the independent media sphere (e.g., Confidencial, Nicaragua Investiga, Artículo 66, Divergentes), the discourse does not shift in an entirely opposite direction; rather, its focus and methodological orientation change in a marked way. Instead of propaganda-oriented mobilization, these outlets prioritize information gathering, factual sequencing, and analysis of the legal and political consequences of the operation.
Confidencial reports the operation with a direct headline such as “The U.S. bombed Venezuela and captured Maduro,” while narrating the event step by step through a chronological sequence and an assessment of its regional repercussions. The aim here is not to reproduce the official media’s monolithic, verdict-like language, but rather to report the development as news and to situate it within a plurality of interpretive frames.[iii]
In independent outlets, Maduro’s appearance before a court in New York is also addressed within a legal-procedural framework, independent of a broader “war” or “attack” narrative. For instance, Confidencial reports Maduro’s self-identification as a “prisoner of war” and his declaration of innocence specifically within the context of judicial proceedings.[iv] In such coverage, rather than producing a one-sided judgment as in official media narratives, the claims of the respective parties and the nature of the process itself are made visible.
In Nicaragua’s independent media, the most critical perspective to emerge is the framing of the Maduro case as an issue of “regime security” and “international pressure” from a Nicaraguan standpoint. Through its reporting on the U.S. indictment, which alleges that Nicaragua forms part of a Central American transit route, Confidencialdirectly links the Maduro episode to Nicaragua’s international position, thereby situating the event not merely as an external development but as one with potential implications for the country’s own geopolitical exposure.[v] Similarly, Nicaragua Investiga brings the political cost of the Maduro case for Managua into focus through its piece titled “The accusations against Maduro are directly linked to Ortega and Murillo’s Nicaragua,” thereby explicitly opening a discussion on the potential domestic and international repercussions of the Maduro dossier for the Nicaraguan regime.[vi]
In a report published by Artículo 66, the inclusion of a note stating that Trump’s claims lack “independent verification” indicates that the event is presented not as an official or definitive narrative, but rather as an assertion requiring verification. This editorial choice is consistent with the critical distancing reflex commonly observed in independent journalistic practice. Within the same reporting framework, the emphasis placed on details concerning Maduro’s conditions of detention and the judicial process further situates the operation not as a singular act of “attack,” but as a process generating broader political and legal consequences.[vii]
Nicaraguan-based news–analysis platforms (e.g., Divergentes) approach the operation not merely as a military action, but through a broader debate over doctrine and strategy with implications for the regional order. For instance, within narratives such as “Operation Absolute Resolve/Determination,” the technical and political dimensions of the event—alongside elements such as the United States’ claim of a temporary administration in Venezuela—are examined. This approach, in contrast to the official media’s “single-sentence verdict” style, offers an analytical framework that interrogates the operation’s multi-layered consequences rather than reducing it to a definitive judgment.[viii] Moreover, linkages such as the disruption of oil flows to Cuba following Maduro’s capture are interpreted through the lens of a regional domino effect.[ix]
In conclusion, it becomes evident that the U.S. military operation targeting Nicolás Maduro is treated in the Nicaraguan press not as an isolated foreign policy development, but as an event directly linked to the country’s regime security, international positioning, and domestic political legitimacy. Nicaragua’s official media frame the development through the concepts of “foreign intervention” and “military aggression,” positioning the United States as a primary actor threatening regional sovereignties; through discursive solidarity with Venezuela and Cuba, this framing produces a securitized and integrative narrative for the domestic audience. Such an approach removes Maduro’s capture from the confines of a Venezuela-specific crisis and incorporates it into a broader narrative of “encirclement,” within which Nicaragua itself is implicitly situated.
By contrast, Nicaragua’s non-official and independent media outlets assess the same event primarily through the lenses of legal proceedings, regional repercussions, and the political costs reflected back onto Nicaragua itself. Within this media strand, Maduro’s capture is treated less as an instance of U.S. power projection than as an illustration of the vulnerability of authoritarian regimes, the regional spillover potential of international indictments, and the diplomatic and economic risks that the Managua administration may confront. Consequently, within the Nicaraguan press, the Maduro episode performs two opposing functions across two distinct media spheres: in official media, it serves as a tool for reinforcing regime legitimacy, whereas in independent media it operates as a warning that renders the regime’s structural weaknesses visible. This dual configuration clearly demonstrates that, in Nicaragua, the media functions not merely as a channel for information transmission, but as a central arena of political contestation and discursive production.
[i] Sandino, Nohemy. “Copresidente de Nikaragua rechaza intervención extranjera y reafirma solidaridad con Venezuela y Cuba”, El 19 Digital, https://www.el19digital.com/articulos/ver/172799-copresidente-de-Nikaragua-rechaza-intervencion-extranjera-y-reafirma-solidaridad-con-venezuela-y-cuba, (Accessed: 01.25.2026).
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] “EE. UU. bombardea Venezuela y captura a Maduro”, Confidencial, https://confidencial.digital/mundo/ee-uu-bombardea-venezuela-y-captura-a-maduro/, (Accessed: 01.25.2026).
[iv] “Maduro se declara inocente y un ‘prisionero de guerra’”, Confidencial, https://confidencial.digital/mundo/maduro-se-declara-inocente-y-un-prisionero-de-guerra/, (Accessed: 01.25.2026.
[v] “Nikaragua en la ruta del narcotráfico, según acusación de EE. UU. contra Nicolás Maduro”, Confidencial, https://confidencial.digital/mundo/Nikaragua-en-la-ruta-del-narcotrafico-segun-acusacion-de-ee-uu-contra-nicolas-maduro/, (Accessed: 01.25.2026).
[vi] “Acusación contra Maduro vincula directamente a la Nikaragua de Ortega y Murillo”, Nikaragua Investiga, https://Nikaraguainvestiga.com/nacion/167663-acusacion-contra-maduro-vincula-directamente-a-la-Nikaragua-de-ortega-y-murillo/, (Accessed: 01.25.2026).
[vii] “Trump asegura que EE. UU. capturó a Nicolás Maduro tras una operación militar ‘a gran escala’ en Venezuela”, Artículo 66, https://www.articulo66.com/2026/01/03/donald-trump-captura-nicolas-maduro, (Accessed: 01.25.2026
[viii] “La captura de Nicolás Maduro y el corte del suministro petrolero consolidan estrategia de ‘asfixia total’ de Trump contra Cuba”, Divergentes, https://www.divergentes.com/captura-nicolas-maduro-corte-suministro-petrolero-estrategia-asfixia-trump-cuba, (Accessed: 01.25.2026).
[ix] “Operación Absolute Resolve: el golpe de EE. UU. para capturar a Nicolás Maduro y reclamar el control de Venezuela”, Divergentes, https://www.divergentes.com/captura-nicolas-maduro-venezuela-operacion-militar, (Accessed: 01.25.2026).
