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** By La Hora de Venezuela
From state-controlled media outlets, such as the television program “Con el Mazo Dando,” hosted by Diosdado Cabello, hashtags such as #CoyotesLesSaleTunTun (“coyotes get knock-knock”) have been promoted. Through these campaigns, María Corina Machado and other members of the opposition are singled out as responsible for an alleged orchestrated migration of Venezuelans to the United States. This narrative is one of the Venezuelan government’s justifications for the “kidnapping of migrants” in the wave of deportations from the United States, especially in light of the sending of Venezuelans to the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, CECOT (Terrorism Confinement Center) in El Salvador.
However, it is not only the Venezuelan opposition that is being blamed for the situation of migrants in the US, but the attack is also directed at two political figures on the continent: Nayid Bukele and Marco Rubio.
Hashtags such as “#BukeleCachorritoYLacayo” (Bukele puppy and lackey) and “#BukeleTúNoEresElSalvador” (Bukele you are not El Salvador) were used against the president of El Salvador in a campaign against his decision to transfer Venezuelan migrants to the CECOT. On the other hand, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also received online attacks promoted by “Con El Mazo Dando,” which were replicated in proxy media and social media accounts aligned with the regime.
This is part of a broader narrative that attempts to portray the Venezuelan state as a protector of returning migrants, as recounted in the first part of #MissionHypocrisy, while avoiding directly confronting its responsibility for the causes of the exodus. The strategy, supported by a well-articulated digital ecosystem, has served, as demonstrated in this second installment, to amplify messages that divert attention toward national and international actors. But behind the discourse of protection, there is evidence of the instrumental use of migration as a political tool.
From Opposition Leader to Head of the Tren de Aragua
Amid Venezuela’s migration crisis, the regime has deployed a narrative strategy that targets opposition figures like María Corina Machado and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. Both are blamed for mass migration and policy decisions by the Trump administration affecting Venezuelans in the U.S.
To understand the reach and impact of these accusations, we conducted digital monitoring of social media conversations. Notable hashtags included #BukeleCachorritoYLacayo (Bukele puppy and lackey), #BukeleTeEquivocaste (Bukele, you made a mistake), #MCMDelincuente (MCM criminal), and #DeportenAEstosHDP (Deport these sons of b***). Attacks on Machado, her associates, and family members reached at least 4,752 mentions. The name “María Corina” appeared 145 times, often linked with terms like “imperial lackey” and accusations of migrant persecution.
The stigmatization campaign also employed hashtags like #TrenDeAraguaMachado (139 mentions) and #LaSayoYSuTrenDeAragua (90 mentions), which aimed to associate Machado with the criminal group “Tren de Aragua” — one of the reasons cited by the U.S. for deporting Venezuelans to El Salvador. The regime leveraged this to intensify attacks against opposition figures as supposed accomplices and criminals.
Diosdado Cabello has been a key promoter of this narrative, using his tv show to discredit Machado with hashtags like “La Sayo” or “Sayona,” referencing a folkloric Venezuelan specter symbolizing danger and betrayal. This association seeks to reinforce a negative image of Machado among regime supporters.
Far from spontaneous, this narrative amplification shows a coordinated pattern on social media. Despite X being blocked in Venezuela, at least 64 accounts actively participated in this campaign, publishing 373 messages to bolster the accusations. One clear example was the hashtag #DeportenAEstosHDP, which reached nearly 1,600 mentions on March 21 alone, targeting Machado’s family. This digital organization reflects a well-orchestrated strategy to sow fear.
The hashtag #MCMDelincuente was among the most recurrent, along with others like #MariaCorinaRata (Maria Corina is a rat), reinforcing the idea that Machado was responsible for deportations. These posts followed a coordinated pattern, evidenced by the repeated use of unrelated hashtags such as #OncaLaVozEnEcos, #ComandoHugoChávez, and #Ecos. This cross-tagging strategy increased visibility, disguising the campaign as a spontaneous movement.
On Instagram, 394 posts aligned with this disinformation campaign were identified, along with 11 on TikTok and at least one on Facebook. Many of these posts included the handle of the Minister of Communication, Freddy Ñáñez (@luchaalmada), alongside the #ECOS hashtag, which amplified pro-regime narratives surrounding deportations.
#CoyotesLesSaleTunTun: Diosdado’s Hashtag to Threaten the Opposition
Although the online attacks around migrant deportation focused primarily on Machado, other opposition figures like Juan Guaidó, Leopoldo López, Miguel Pizarro, and Julio Borges were also targeted.
A social listening project conducted by us, revealed that between March 8 and April 8, 2025, the migration conversation was mostly driven by state security bodies and Justice Minister Diosdado Cabello through his program “Con el Mazo Dando.”
We identified 8,198 mentions tied to key terms like #CoyotesLesSaleTunTun, kidnapped migrants, repatriated, #VueltaALPatria, Conviasa, #MCMDelincuente, CICPC migrants, GNB migrants, mistreatment of nationals, Operation TunTun, ZODI migrants, and ZODI nationals. Activity peaked between April 1 and 4, reaching a high of 1,659 mentions on April 2.
This spike coincided with the 521st broadcast of “Con el Mazo Dando,” where #CoyotesLesSaleTunTun was promoted, linking opposition figures to human trafficking. The hashtag trended on X in Venezuela with at least 11,200 messages.
🚩Coyotes, les sale tun tun🚩
Inicia la edición 521 de su programa #ConElMazoDando. ¿Desde dónde nos sintonizan hoy?
La etiqueta de hoy es: #CoyotesLesSaleTunTun@dcabellor #02Abr pic.twitter.com/B2cZTPufyR
— Con el Mazo Dando (@ConElMazoDando) April 2, 2025
“TunTun”, meaning knock-knock, evokes “Operation TunTun”, a term deeply ingrained in Venezuelan collective memory due to its association with police and military raids led by Cabello against journalists, human rights defenders, political figures, and dissidents.
At least 87 X posts that used the hashtag promoted by Cabello’s show also used #ComandoHugoChávez. On Instagram, 125 posts combined #CoyotesLesSaleTunTun, #OncaLaVozEnEcos, and #ECOS, often sharing the same image promoted by “Con el Mazo Dando.”
Deeper analysis revealed coordinated use of the same modified image across Instagram and X, underscoring a synchronized communication strategy across platforms.
Trends Against Bukele and Rubio Also Originated from “El Mazo”
As explained in the first part of #MissionHypocrisy, on Wednesday, March 19, “Con el Mazo Dando” promoted the hashtag #BukeleCachorritoYLacayo on X, which garnered around 8,790 tweets. This trend criticized Bukele and linked him to U.S. migration policies.
The campaign extended to Instagram, where at least 13 accounts linked to the CICPC (Scientific, Penal, and Criminal Investigation Police) shared this hashtag, posting images of Cabello receiving migrant flights and reinforcing the narrative of the regime as a protector, while rejecting U.S.-El Salvador agreements.
Other related hashtags included #BukeleTeEquivocaste (351 mentions), #BukeleTuNoEresElSalvador (260), and the recurring #ComandoHugoChávez, all promoting the same criticism of Bukele and positive messaging about the regime.
Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State under Trump, was also a target of these discrediting campaigns. On March 26, Cabello accused Rubio and Machado of orchestrating attacks against Venezuelan migrants during his weekly show.
This message was echoed on social media using the hashtag #SiNosBuscanNosEncuentran (If you look for us, you will find us) and was quickly amplified by proxy media (which claim to be independent but serve regime interests) like Globovisión, Venezuela News, El Universal, Ciudad CCS and Diario Litoral.
Additionally, pro-regime TikTok and Instagram influencers like @LuisJuventud1, @angelikdelvallemo, @guerrero_vzla y @jeiksonlaraoficial, created videos echoing Cabello’s claims.
An analysis of narratives promoted by the Venezuelan regime reveals a well-coordinated digital machine that not only attacks domestic opponents but also extends to international figures such as Nayib Bukele and Marco Rubio. Through the use of hashtags and synchronized campaigns across multiple platforms, pro-government troops amplify messages designed to discredit and stigmatize political leaders, demonstrating the potential of this strategy to influence public opinion beyond Venezuela’s borders and revealing a dangerous model of regional manipulation.
Does the Regime Really Rescue and Protect Migrants?
Far from offering real protection, the regime’s campaign uses the Justice Ministry’s structure as a supposed savior of migrants. This carefully crafted narrative is deployed through government accounts and digital platforms. Beneath this façade, the Venezuelan government aims to appear as a human rights defender while exploiting the migration crisis to attack adversaries.
The reality contrasts sharply with this narrative. The use of the migration crisis as a political tool reveals how Venezuelan authorities prioritize narrative control over the well-being of their people.
This digital strategy is a performance that turns victims into propaganda tools, blaming opposition figures and foreign governments for the situation. Instead of offering real solutions to protect migrants, the regime has prioritized crafting a story in which it plays the role of protector and judge—all while ignoring the internal policies that have driven so many Venezuelans into forced displacement.
This is the second installment of the #MissionHypocrisy series, which explores how the Venezuelan regime is using the migration crisis as a new engine for political propaganda. For more information, search the #MissionHypocrisy hashtag on social media.
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