Maduro threatens artists abroad: "Decide if you want to pursue your career with your families in Venezuela"

Dictator Nicolás Maduro threatened Venezuelan artists and influencers abroad, linking them to alleged “fascist plans.”

"Decide if you want to continue pursuing your career with your families in Venezuela. It is the first decision those influencers and artists must make,” Maduro said during a speech with leaders of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and of organizations that make up the Great Patriotic Pole (GPP), the coalition that supports Chavismo.

He then criticized the opposition for allegedly inciting artists into pro-democracy activism, suggesting that they were being used for political purposes.

“They use them, they pay them and then they abandon them,” he added, referring to opposition leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia, whom the opposition recognizes as president-elect with a result of more than 67% of the votes.

"When María [Corina Machado] goes to live in Miami or Madrid, she will forget about you. When the cowardly criminal of Edmundo González Urrutia flees, as Guaidó fled, they will do as they did in all the coup attempts … they used them and then discarded them, and their artistic and sporting careers will be shattered in the eyes of the Venezuelan people…” he said.

#AHORA 🚨 | Nicolás Maduro afirma que la derecha “utiliza” a los influencers en su propio beneficio.

"Cuando María fascista se vaya a vivir a Miami, se olvidará de ustedes", dijo pic.twitter.com/SKKSnfbagf

— El Cooperante (@El_Cooperante) August 19, 2024

Maduro accused the influencers of trying to “destabilize” the country, referring again to the female vocalist and influencer Lele Pons, whom he had already accused of “conspiring” against him for inviting Venezuelans in Miami to attend the Saturday rally called by María Corina Machado to demand that the true results of the presidential elections be recognized.

“Lele Pons is depressed, what she has done is cry since Saturday, her friends tell me. “I had a WhatsApp group with Lele Pons and friends, but I eliminated WhatsApp from my life, now they write to me on Telegram,” he indicated.

Maduro also took the opportunity to mention Venezuelan comedian George Harris, saying, “He was dedicated to making people laugh and now he is dedicated to persecuting people, hating and calling for military intervention against Venezuela.”

The communist Venezuelan dictator also accused the opposition of creating fake accounts on social media platforms, alleging that their followers were mere bots.

“They made 30 TikTok accounts, the influencers have 100 million followers. Someone dedicated themselves to counting the number of likes they gave them and they reached 1.2 billion likes. But a small detail, these people may have many followers, likes, bots, but bots don't march and they don’t vote,” he wrote.

Before these statements, Maduro had already attacked Lele Pons saying: “Now there is Lele Pons, and she performs at a concert on Saturday in Miami, imposing [her political views] on Venezuela. But, who said that Lele Pons is a politician?”

After the accusations, Pons turned to her social networks to respond to Maduro. “Did I bother you? You're not going to shut me up, Maduro! VENEZUELA WON,” she wrote.