From Super Mustache to 'Con el Mazo Dando': Venezuela's Theatrical Response as U.S. Pressure Rises

Venezuela’s state media has leaned into satire, cartoon heroes and theatrical rhetoric as tensions with the United States have increased. The government’s messaging mixes spectacle and threat—using a mustachioed cartoon, marathon TV monologues and staged military footage—to rally supporters while trying to avoid nationwide panic.

Cartoons and caricatures: a symbolic front

“Super Mustache,” a recurring cartoon that began airing on state television in 2021, personifies President Nicolás Maduro as a caped, moustachioed alter ego. In a September episode that followed U.S. airstrikes the U.S. administration said targeted alleged drug-running vessels off Venezuela’s coast, the character traded his usual costume for a military uniform, drew a sheathed sword and insisted that Venezuela does not have a “warmongering culture.” The sequence underscores how satire and symbolism are now part of the official playbook.

Maduro: peacemaker in public

Since tensions increased this year, President Maduro has appeared in public far more often than before August, delivering speeches and moving through crowds while flanked by heavy security, according to Venezuelan researcher Andrés Cañizález. Rather than foregrounding military strength, Maduro has emphasized a peacemaker role—at times singing John Lennon’s “Imagine” at a public event and publicly urging direct talks with U.S. leaders. At a November rally he called for dialogue to pursue peace in the Americas.

Cabello’s marathon program: bluster and ridicule

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, host of the long-running state program Con el Mazo Dando (“Hitting it with a Club”), blends political attacks, jokes and propaganda across episodes that can run for hours. Cabello regularly reads criticisms of the government—often citing Republican U.S. politicians—and answers them by airing archival clips of the late President Hugo Chávez daring foreign intervention.

“There are no tensions here between Venezuela and the United States. Here there is an aggression by the United States against Venezuela,” Cabello declared on a recent broadcast, adding that the alleged aggression is aimed at controlling Venezuela’s natural resources rather than combating drugs or terrorism.

Military theater on social media

Venezuelan military accounts have posted multiple videos showing troops conducting shooting drills, erecting anti-tank fortifications in and around Caracas, and militia members posing with weapons—usually set to dramatic music. The footage is clearly intended to display readiness, even as official rhetoric alternates between calming reassurances and calls to prepare.

Personalizing the enemy: why Marco Rubio is targeted

Rather than directing the harshest barbs at then-President Donald Trump, Maduro and Cabello have frequently singled out U.S. Senator Marco Rubio. Cabello often mocks Rubio—labeling him with derisive nicknames—and accuses him of pushing U.S. policy toward confrontation for political gain among Cuban-American voters in Florida. Political scientist Javier Corrales says presenting a recognizable, personalized foreign adversary helps the regime rally its base and frame the threat as the work of specific actors rather than abstract policy debates.

The communication dilemma

Analysts, including Andrés Cañizález and Javier Corrales, say the regime’s messaging has shifted through stages: initially downplaying tensions with the United States, then adopting a more threatening, retaliatory tone as U.S. forces increased their presence in the Caribbean. The overall strategy seeks to mobilize public support against a perceived external threat without triggering panic or undermining public confidence.

The theatrical mix—cartoons, marathon broadcasts, staged military footage and calibrated attacks on a named U.S. politician—illustrates a government trying to control the narrative while managing real regional risk. Whether that political theater ultimately deters escalation or fuels it remains uncertain.