He was captured by American special forces over the weekend, and now deposed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has become an unlikely fashion inspiration.
The United States surprised the world after capturing the country’s president at his Fort Tiuna compound in an early-hours assault.
After overcoming dozens of armed guards during a ferocious gun battle, the elite Delta Force reached 63-year-old Maduro as he fled from his bedroom with his wife, Cilia Flores.
Soon after, President Donald Trump shared a photograph of Maduro in US captivity while aboard the USS Iwo Jima on his platform, Truth Social, where he was seen wearing a blindfold, ear defenders, and a Nike Tech tracksuit.
While it’s not clear whether Maduro was captured wearing the tracksuit or whether he was given it by US forces, he triggered a near-total sell out of the colourway on the US Nike website within hours of the photograph’s release, Polymarket found.
The 109.99 Nike Tech fleece and matching 89.99 bottoms are a staple choice among rappers and sports stars in the UK and beyond, leading Maduro’s outfit to quickly become a meme sensation online.
Dubbed the ‘Maduro fit’, two-time Grammy-nominated rapper Westside Gunn even teased the image as his next album cover.
The photograph of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro captured inUSS Iwo Jima has caused sales of his Nike Tech tracksuit to surge
Memes have popped up all over social media, with one, shared by @GTRwen, showing Maduro as if he was posing for a Nike ad campaign
On Instagram, the American rapper, who co-founded the hip-hop record label Griselda Records, shared the image of Maduro in the tracksuit and chains as an album cover.
Over on X, an AI-generated meme of the politician in a seated pose alongside the Nike tagline ‘Just Do It’ surfaced, while another showed him staring at the camera in the ensemble.
Meanwhile, another joked: ‘Nicolas Maduro rocking that casual grey Nike Tech fleece ‘fit while getting captured, you already know that man got 40 women left on read.’
A second added: ‘Maduro wearing Nike tech fleece suit is the most surprising thing about this whole situation.’
A third said: ‘No way Maduro was wearing a Nike Tech.’ Another added: ‘Why is the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in a Nike tech like he’s on his way to a football game.’
Indeed, Mallorca football players prepared for the pitch today dressed in the same Nike tracksuit, with social media users drawing comparisons.
Though Maduro triggered an increase in Nike sales, he was also pictured in New York after his capture in a different, all-black ensemble with socks and sliders, before appearing to remove his jumper, revealing a blue hoodie.
Despite thousands joking online, the situation remains as serious as ever for Maduro, who is described as a ‘narco-terrorist’ by the US, and will face trial in New York for charges of drug and weapons offences alongside his wife.
Grammy-nominated rapper Westside Gunn teased an album cover with the image of the dictator
One AI-generated meme, shared by @dexabot, who is based in Bolivia, showed the dictator posing in the grey tracksuit
Hundreds have taken to X to like, share, and repost comments about the photograph of Maduro in a Nike tracksuit
US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said Venezuela was experiencing a ‘new dawn’ adding: ‘The tyrant is gone. He will now – finally – face justice for his crimes.’
Britain and France welcomed Maduro’s capture, with Keir Starmer calling him an illegitimate leader and saying, ‘We shed no tears about the end of his regime’.
President Emmanuel Macron said the Venezuelan people are ‘rid of Nicolas Maduro’s dictatorship and can only rejoice. By seizing power and trampling on fundamental freedoms, [he] gravely undermined the dignity of his own people’.
But Russia called Maduro’s arrest an ‘act of armed aggression’ – and China accused the US of violating international law and threatening ‘peace and security’ in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Addressing a news conference, a triumphant Donald Trump said: ‘Armed forces conducted an extraordinary military operation in the capital of Venezuela, [with] overwhelming American military power. Air, land and sea was used to launch a spectacular assault, and it was an assault like people have not seen since World War Two.’
More than 150 bombers, fighters and reconnaissance aircraft were used in the raid, during which Caracas was plunged into darkness. American forces dismantled and disabled air defences ‘to ensure the safe passage of the helicopters’ used to extract Nicolas Maduro.
Trump said the Venezuelan leader’s vice-president, Delcy Rodriguez, was now in power, but that she had promised to do ‘anything’ the US wants. However, she contradicted that assertion by rejecting US intervention and demanding Maduro’s return.