Maduro Accuses Elon Musk of Spending $1 Billion on Coup Attempt

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro alleges that billionaire Elon Musk financed a $1 billion coup attempt, escalating tensions between the Venezuelan government and external influences.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has alleged that tech mogul Elon Musk has “invested” at least $1 billion to incite violence in the South American nation following the presidential election earlier this year.

Maduro was announced as the winner of the July 28 election by national electoral officials, despite claims from the US that victory had been unjustly taken from opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez.

On his weekly television show on Monday, Maduro claimed to have direct information indicating that Musk—his longstanding public adversary—had invested “no less than $1 billion” in orchestrating “the coup d’état, the fascist uprising, and the violence against Venezuela’s electoral process.”

The Venezuelan leader accused his political opponent, businesswoman Maria Corina Machado, of distributing the alleged funding to so-called “fascist” groups. He claimed that these efforts were ultimately backed by the U.S. government in an attempt to remove him from power.

After the vote in July, Musk accused Maduro of “significant election fraud,” prompting the Venezuelan president to label him as his “archenemy” who supposedly “controls the virtual reality” formed by social media platforms. Although they agreed to resolve their feud with a fistfight, it never took place. Additionally, Musk has threatened to scorch Maduro’s well-known mustache “from space” after receiving threats from Venezuela regarding potential suspension of his social network X within the country.

The longstanding US strategy has been to exert economic and political pressure on Venezuela with the aim of replacing its government. For years, Washington, along with several other Western nations, recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido instead of Maduro as the legitimate head of Venezuela. This recognition enabled the US-supported figure to assert claims over Venezuelan national assets located in Western regions, including interests in oil companies within the United States and gold reserves stored at the Bank of England.

Musk has shown support for ousting foreign governments to advance his corporate goals. In July 2020, he faced an online challenge asserting that Washington had orchestrated a coup against Bolivian President Evo Morales to help Tesla gain access to Bolivia’s abundant lithium reserves. Musk replied with a post: “We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it.”

Morales was removed from power by right-wing political forces amid the widespread protests of 2019, which arose following a contested presidential election. However, his party, Movement for Socialism, successfully returned to prominence by securing victory in the 2020 general election and thwarting an attempted military coup earlier this year.