Months of tension between the United States and Venezuela came to a head on Saturday when the US launched a coup against President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. After the attack, Elon Musk’s Starlink is stepping in to provide emergency internet services to Venezuelans.
“Starlink offers free broadband service to the people of Venezuela until February 3, guaranteeing continuous connection,” Starlink wrote in X on Sunday. Hours later, Musk repeated the statement, adding, “In support of the Venezuelan people,” with a Venezuelan flag emoji.
The move is notable, but not entirely surprising. Musk has been a vocal critic of Maduro for the past two years and called his capture “a global victory and a clear message to evil dictators everywhere.” Meanwhile, Starlink has become a geopolitical disruptor in its own right, supporting communications and battlefield communications in war-torn Ukraine, Sudan and many conflict zones in the Middle East.
Starlink’s growing security presence
After their capture, Maduro and his wife were transported to New York to face charges related to drug trafficking, terrorism and firearms. The couple is being held at the MDC-Brooklyn jail and is expected to appear in court at 12:00 ET today.
The US attack on Venezuela involved airstrikes that targeted mostly military infrastructure but reportedly destroyed some homes and killed at least 40 people, including civilians. Venezuela has faced serious communication problems for a long time before this attack, but the attack will be worse at a time when access to information is more important than ever.
Following the airstrikes, part of the country’s capital, Caracas, was reportedly without electricity and internet connection. Local shops also reported disruptions in Miranda state.
Enter Starlink: the world’s largest satellite megaconstellation. More than 9,000 active low-Earth orbit satellites provide broadband Internet access to remote areas or areas with damaged infrastructure, such as war zones. The service has become vital to Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression. It also kept a field hospital operating in Gaza and provided assistance in an internet blackout in Sudan.
Musk throws a lifeline to Venezuela
The Starlink availability map lists Venezuela as “coming soon,” but in a statement, the SpaceX subsidiary explained that Venezuelans who already have a Starlink kit can now access the service via navigation. Both active and inactive customers will receive free service credits that are continuously applied to their accounts.
“Even if we don’t [yet have] the timeline of local purchase availability, if any updates will be communicated directly through official Starlink channels,” read the statement.
Starlink’s growing presence in conflict zones has been hailed as a vital means of military survival and critical civilian operations, but it has also raised concerns about a single private company’s ability to control Internet access during wartime.
Such concerns are included in the decision of the US Department of Defense to bring Starlink operations to Ukraine under its supervision in 2023 through a contract with SpaceX. It’s unclear whether the DoD will oversee the Starlink deployment to Venezuela, but the swift response underscores the company’s evolving role as a strategic actor in global conflicts.
