Venezuelans are sending ousted dictator Nicolás Maduro mocking memes and scathing messages as he sits in a Brooklyn jail cell while facing federal charges.
A 21-year-old Venezuelan American who goes by Storm on social media helped launch the letter-writing campaign after learning Maduro would be held at the same detention center as Luigi Mangione, the man charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, NBC News reported. Storm requested that her legal name not be used to protect relatives in Venezuela.
She said she realized Mangione was sent letters in prison and saw an opportunity for her and other Venezuelans to finally tell the former president what they thought of him. (RELATED: Congressional Democrats Rage At Trump’s Venezuela Operation)
Storm compiled a three-page letter featuring 35 anonymous messages from Venezuelans both in the country and abroad. The first page included a laughing cat meme with the caption, “The Venezuelans wish you a Happy New Year.”
Images of the troll mail went viral on X after Polymarket posted photos of an envelope apparently addressed to Maduro at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. The post has garnered over 4.4 million views.
JUST IN: Venezuelans who fled to America are sending Maduro prison mail, trolling their former dictator with memes. pic.twitter.com/vEfHRqGowR
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) January 9, 2026
The messages sent have ranged from jokes like, “Brother, is it cold in the U.S.A.?” to darker personal accounts, according to NBC News.
“I’ve spent 11 years without my family because of you, and I’ll never forget that,” one read. “But now I am happy that you have to spend time without your family, without your wife, just alone in your cold room.”
Storm fled Venezuela with her family in 2015 as the country spiraled into economic chaos, NBC News reported. Her father, an outspoken critic of the socialist regime, died of cancer last year. His final wish was to return home.
“We haven’t been able to accomplish that, because the country won’t let us go back,” Storm said. “For me, the letter was like, ‘Hey, dad, this is your story.’”
Storm plans to send more letters. “That has to go out there, because a lot of people are counting on that to express themselves and be like, ‘Hey, I might have not been able to say it face to face, but he’s gonna hear it some way or another,’” she said.
Prison mail is legal in the United States provided it bears no threats or incitements to violence, according to the International Business Times. Recipients typically receive mail, though staff screen incoming correspondence before inmates receive it.
U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on Jan. 3 during a military operation in Caracas, the country’s capital. Both pleaded not guilty to narco-terrorism charges on Jan. 5. Their next court date is March 17.