Elon Musk announces free Starlink services for Venezuela

In a dramatic gesture framed as solidarity amid turmoil, Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk announced on Sunday that Starlink, his satellite-based internet service, will offer free broadband access across Venezuela for a month, seeking to keep the country connected through a period of deep political and security uncertainty.

Making the announcement on X, Musk said the move was “in support of the people of Venezuela,” positioning the decision as a lifeline of connectivity at a moment when the nation’s digital arteries risk disruption. Starlink’s constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites, he noted, would ensure uninterrupted internet access through 3 February.

“Starlink is providing free broadband service to the people of Venezuela through 3 February, ensuring continued connectivity,” the company said in a post, underlining the humanitarian tenor of the initiative.

The announcement followed closely on the heels of Musk’s public reaction to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a US military operation authorised by US President Donald Trump. Welcoming the development, Musk wrote in Spanish that Venezuela could now finally move toward the prosperity it deserves, with Maduro no longer in power.

His response was in keeping with a stance he has held for years. Musk has been one of the most outspoken international critics of the Maduro government, frequently blaming Venezuela’s economic collapse on what he views as damaging state policies. During the country’s 2024 elections, he openly backed the opposition, calling for sweeping political change and throwing his support behind opposition leader María Corina Machado, who later went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025.

Time and again, Musk has argued that Venezuela’s vast natural wealth could have translated into shared prosperity under different leadership. In an April 2024 post, he said the country’s fortunes had been squandered by excessive government control, describing it as extreme socialism. He later doubled down on that view, urging that Venezuelans be given a genuine chance at a better future.

Throughout 2024, Musk continued his pointed criticism of Maduro, often in stark and uncompromising terms. Now, with Starlink’s free broadband pledge, he appears to be coupling political commentary with a tangible intervention — one that casts connectivity itself as a bridge between crisis and possibility.

With IANS inputs