Westside Gunn shared a concept album cover on his Instagram Story, Sunday, reworking a picture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro after his arrest by the U.S. military over the weekend. In the image, he appears to be rocking a hefty necklace, and there's a "Parental Advisory" warning at the bottom right. President Donald Trump shared the original image on his Truth Social page with the caption: "Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima."
As Gunn's post has been circulating on social media, fans have been making plenty of jokes. One user on X (formerly Twitter) remarked that he should title the album, "Pray for Venezuela." Gunna previously dropped a project titled Pray for Paris back in 2020. Another fan wrote: "Westside Gunn is a marketing genius."
Why Is Nicolás Maduro Under Arrest?
The U.S. military captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia, in Venezuela on Saturday. He made his first appearance in court in New York City on Monday morning. There, he pleaded not guilty to narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine-importation conspiracy, and weapons charges.
“I am the president of Venezuela," Maduro said through an interpreter, according to People, "I consider myself a prisoner of war. I was captured at my home in Caracas, Venezuela." As for his plea, he added: “I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still the president of my country.”
Regarding the future of Venezuela, Donald Trump described the U.S. as being "in charge" of the country for the time being. “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition,” Trump said at a press conference from Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, as caught by The Hill.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attempted to clarify the President's comments afterward. He suggested that the U.S. won't be doing a full occupation of Venezuela, but instead will use the oil quarantine of sanctioned tankers as leverage. “We continue with that quarantine, and we expect to see that there will be changes, not just in the way the oil industry is run for the benefit of the people, but also so that they stop the drug trafficking," he explained on CBS’s Face the Nation.
