On 03 January 2026, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were detained by US forces in Caracas and taken to the United States to face federal charges, including alleged narco‑terrorism and drug‑trafficking offences. On 05 January 2026, both pleaded not guilty in a New York federal court. The Venezuelan government condemned the operation as a violation of its sovereignty, while interim authorities in Caracas have sought their release. They remain in US federal custody, and the next court hearing is scheduled for 17 March 2026 (here, here, here, here, and here).
Amid this, a video is being shared on social media (here, here, and here) with the claim that it shows the condition of Venezuela under Nicolás Maduro, with people addicted to drugs and passing out on the streets. Let’s verify the claim made in the post in this article.
Claim: The video shows people addicted to drugs and collapsing on the streets in Venezuela.
Fact: This viral video is not from Venezuela. The visuals are from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, showing homeless drug addicts in the Kensington neighbourhood. Media reports from September 2023 linked the footage to drug abuse involving substances such as Xylazine mixed with heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine. Geolocation of visible store signboards also confirmed the location as Philadelphia. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video led us to an X post dated 22 September 2023 by Jornal O Globo, a Portuguese-language Brazilian newspaper based in Rio de Janeiro. The post features the same video and states that the visuals show the impact of drug addiction in the USA.
Using clues from the X post, we searched Google with relevant keywords and found multiple media reports (here, here, and here) from September 2023 featuring the same visuals as the viral video. According to these reports, the video shows homeless drug addicts collapsed on the streets of Philadelphia. The reports noted that the sedative Xylazine has entered the drug supply, often mixed with heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine to enhance their effects. The Kensington neighbourhood of Philadelphia has become an open-air drug market, where addicts roam the streets barefoot. Most residents behave like zombies due to drug addiction, sleep directly on the ground, and keep their belongings in plastic bags, shopping carts, backpacks, or laundry baskets.
We also noticed the name boards of a few stores visible in the clearer version of the video. Using these, we geolocated the stores (here, here) and identified them as being located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The comparison is shown below.
To sum up, this viral video showing people addicted to drugs and collapsing on the streets is from Philadelphia, United States, not Venezuela.
