Elon Musk Escalates War of Words with Nicolás Maduro

In a further escalation of his heated verbal clash with Nicolás Maduro, billionaire Elon Musk has vowed to transport the Venezuelan leader to "Gitmo"—short for the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay—on a donkey. "I'm coming for you, Maduro. I'll take you to 'Gitmo' on a donkey," Musk tweeted this Thursday.

The owner of X posted his message alongside a video showing Maduro giving direct orders to his security forces to detain and arrest protesters in Venezuela. In the dialogue, a member of the forces informs Maduro that they have captured two individuals who allegedly confessed to being paid 50 dollars to join the protests against the July 28 electoral fraud.

In a seemingly staged scene, Maduro immediately asks, “Who paid them?” to which the officer responds, “I don't have that information.” “This area has been very violent and disruptive. I'm glad you are protecting the people. These are criminals; we have over 1,200 criminals captured,” Maduro stated, hinting that those protesting his government are “trained in Texas and Colombia.”

“They were trained to come and attack, to burn. They tried to burn down that hospital, and the community and you all prevented it. Is that protest? Is that political struggle?” he questioned. The officer responded, “Terrorism,” to which Maduro added, “That is fascism. These people are not prepared to govern this country. I am in combat and I count on you.”

Musk's post has gone viral on X in the last few hours, garnering hundreds of reactions to the crisis in Venezuela and rejecting Maduro's use of armed forces against the population, who demand the release of electoral records showing Edmundo González as the winner.

Elon Musk, Maduro's Number One Adversary

After publicly supporting opposition leader María Corina Machado, Elon Musk has recently become the “public enemy” number one of Nicolás Maduro's regime, who even accused him of planning to “invade Venezuela.”

According to Maduro, “social media creates a virtual reality,” and he claimed that this "virtual reality is controlled by our new arch-enemy, the famous and desperate Elon Musk.”

“He would like to come with his rockets and an army to invade Venezuela. Elon Musk, it's good you showed your face, because we knew you were behind it all, Elon Musk, with your money, with your satellites,” Maduro accused the owner of Tesla and SpaceX.

Maduro even challenged Musk to a schoolyard-style fight. “Control yourself, because [your tweets] will lead you to failure, just like the right-wing led all American politicians to failure. Elon Musk, whoever messes with me, dries up; whoever messes with Venezuela, dries up. Elon Musk, do you want a fight? Let's do it, Elon Musk, I'm ready. I am the son of Bolívar and Chávez. I am not afraid of you, Elon Musk, let's do this. Anywhere. As we say in Caracas, in the neighborhoods, if you want, I want, Elon Musk. Say where.”

The video clip was shared by Musk himself on his X profile, accompanied by a scathing comment: “The donkey knows more than Maduro.” “Apologies for comparing the poor donkey to Maduro. It's an insult to the animal kingdom,” the billionaire added.

In another brief message posted on X, Musk confirmed that he accepted the challenge. "If I win, he will resign as the dictator of Venezuela. If he wins, I'll give him a free trip to Mars," the entrepreneur wrote, fueling a war of words that promises to further ignite a political crisis currently at its peak.

This Wednesday, Maduro lost his governmental entity verification on the social network X (the gray checkmark), owned by Musk, following the heated exchange between the two over allegations of electoral fraud in Venezuela.