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Original article: Documentos desclasificados de la CIA desmontan el relato de Trump: no prueban fraude electrónico en Venezuela
CIA Declassified Documents Refute Trump’s Claims of Electronic Fraud in Venezuela
Last Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump presented a set of declassified intelligence documents as evidence of alleged electronic fraud in Venezuela during the administrations of Presidents Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro. However, the content of these files blatantly contradicts his narrative that aimed to support the theory of an electoral conspiracy orchestrated from Caracas to influence U.S. elections.
The gap between the words of the Republican mogul and the documentary evidence is significant, according to analysis by various U.S. media that have thoroughly reviewed the declassified information.
The centerpiece of the file is a CIA memo dated June 29, which assesses information gathered over nearly two decades regarding the Venezuelan government’s capacity to interfere with its own electoral processes through voting machine technology.
According to the document, there are «persistent concerns» about potential manipulation of electronic systems, but it acknowledges that these have not been proven, as reported by The Washington Post.
Specifically, the U.S. intelligence agency could not definitively confirm «that large-scale electronic fraud occurred in specific Venezuelan elections,» and stated that «other factors better explain electoral outcomes».
Moreover, the sources of information that fed the suspicions about advanced technical capabilities were deemed «limited», as the report itself admits, and the vulnerabilities identified in the voting systems remained strictly theoretical, with no evidence that technology developed by the company Smartmatic—specializing in automating electoral processes using electronic voting and biometric authentication—had been used to manipulate any votes.
The analysis categorically ruled out that Caracas could manipulate votes abroad, indicating that «neither Smartmatic nor the Venezuelan government had the capability to sway election results outside of Venezuelan territory,» as reported by The New York Times.
This clarification directly addresses the central theory propagated by far-right circles for the past six years, suggesting that companies linked to Venezuela altered the results of the 2020 U.S. elections to favor Democrat Joe Biden, who defeated the Republican candidate.
The claim of fraud orchestrated from Caracas emerged in the days following the 2020 elections, when attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell accused the manufacturers of Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic of covertly being Venezuelan companies involved in vote tampering to benefit Commander Hugo Chávez.
To date, neither Trump nor his allies have provided any evidence that Venezuela intervened in a U.S. election, and this evidentiary void was documented within the U.S. intelligence apparatus. A 2021 report, signed by John Ratcliffe, the national intelligence director appointed by Trump himself, concluded that «there is no information suggesting that current or former Venezuelan regimes were involved in attempts to compromise the electoral infrastructure of the U.S.»
On Thursday, the president reiterated the theory of alleged electronic fraud, claiming to have published documents demonstrating the CIA obtained information about a specific plot to manipulate election results in favor of Nicolás Maduro’s government.
The New York Times characterized these claims as a distortion of the conclusions of its own intelligence agency, where the file speaks of unconfirmed suspicions while the discourse proclaims absolute certainties, and where the CIA dismisses compelling evidence while the White House announces non-existent proofs. An accusation maintained for six years, denied by the very documents meant to support it, thus reduces to unfounded political propaganda without technical basis or documentary support.
Specialized foreign policy analyst on Latin America, Geoff Ramsey, suggested that while the declassified CIA reports evidence the historical hostility and deep interference of American administrations in the Venezuelan political landscape, there is no evidence that large-scale electronic fraud was successfully executed in the South American country—a narrative shaped as part of a strategy for international political pressure.
The pattern of baseless accusations also extends to other capitals, as evidenced when Trump labeled Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea as «adversaries,» attributing them with the capability to compromise U.S. electoral infrastructure.
As reported by TeleSUR, the Kremlin’s response echoed the Venezuelan case, stating that the president relies on «anonymous and unfounded information» from intelligence agencies, and reminding that several investigations concluded that Russia had no influence in its elections—a treatment that Moscow expects from other nations.
*Featured Image: Líbero/Gabriela Zevallos.
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