In January, the CIA leaked images that exposed and ridiculed the Venezuelan delegation; in February, SouthCom completely erased the faces of its interlocutors. Two strategies with the same goal: controlling the narrative.
Written by: La Tabla / Data Journalism Platform
February 19, 2026
The first visit by a SouthCom chief to Venezuela in 26 years left a visual paradox: there are photos of the visitor but none of the visited. General Francis Donovan appears at Maiquetía airport, smiling next to Ambassador Laura Dogu. He is also seen inside the embassy, meeting with the military personnel guarding the site. What does not exist—at least in the public record—is a single image of Donovan sitting across from the interim President, Delcy Rodríguez, or shaking hands with Ministers Padrino López and Diosdado Cabello.
The absence is not coincidental. It is the second phase of a narrative control strategy that had already been tested in January.
January: the humiliating display
On January 15, the CIA director met with Delcy Rodríguez under a silence pact that the Agency broke the next day. The envelopes with photographs distributed to select media were not neutral: they showed the interim president in full-body, revealing mismatched sports shoes paired with the formal outfit she had worn hours earlier at the National Assembly. Another image captured her presidential guard chief displaying excessive friendliness toward the U.S. official.
The photos, technically flawless, were taken by professionals working for the CIA. The message was clear: “We control the angle, the framing, and the moment. And we can make them look bad.”
February: the erasure
Yesterday, the mechanism was different. There were no leaks to the media. No envelopes. The Embassy and SouthCom published photos, but none included Venezuelans. Donovan appeared alone or with his team. Delcy Rodríguez, Padrino, and Cabello were wiped from the frame.
Where January showed a display, February had suppression. Where there was ridiculing, now there is visual silence. The difference is revealing: if in January it was about showcasing weakness, in February, it is about denying existence. The Venezuelan delegation lacked not only a solid narrative—its vague statement, published before the meeting, became outdated—but also an image. Without words and without faces.
Two statements, two times, one winner
The Venezuelan government issued its version before the meeting: an operational agenda against drug trafficking, terrorism, and migration. SouthCom published its version after: mentioning Trump’s “three-phase plan” and the goal of “facilitating Venezuela’s orientation towards the U.S.”.
While the Venezuelan statement—vague and prior—became obsolete, the American one became the reference version for international press. And it did so alongside images that humanized the visitor, while the local interlocutor remained out of frame.
The asymmetry as strategy
What happened yesterday was not a logistical oversight. It was a deliberate decision: the United States controlled not only what was said but also what was seen. And by controlling what was seen, they also controlled what will be remembered from this historic meeting.
In January, they showed Venezuela to expose it. In February, they erased it to neutralize it. Two sides of the same coin: the power of those who control the camera.
The first meeting of the century between a SouthCom chief and a Venezuelan president ended just like it began: with Washington calling the shots. Also in the words. Also in the photos. Also in what is chosen to be shown and what is decided to be hidden.