Free Starlink internet arriving in Venezuela following capture of Nicolás Maduro

If you have been following the news in recent days, you will have seen that long-time Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, was captured by the United States and taken to a detention facility in New York. To help ensure a peaceable state of affairs in Venezuela during the leadership transition, SpaceX has announced free Starlink service in the country.

The free service period will be offered in the country until February 3. For active customers, no actions are required and service credits will automatically be applied to accounts. For inactive/paused customers, credits are proactively applied, allowing users to reactivate their service immediately. For new users who own a Starlink kit, the service can be accessed by selecting a Roam plan. You can view your credits in the billing section of the user account.

SpaceX notes that local kit sales are not yet available in the country, nor is there a timeline for official local distribution. If the company does make a decision about launching there or has any updates to share, it will share them on official Starlink channels and the help centre page.

For those not aware, SpaceX has been using its reusable Falcon 9 rockets to launch Starlink satellites to space for several years. These satellites provide internet connectivity to receivers on Earth that the customer buys. Aside from the receiver, customers generally have to pay a subscription each month to continue receiving connectivity.

According to the official Starlink map of covered countries, Venezuela is listed as getting the service soon but given SpaceX’s announcement, it should be available to use there if you have already got your hands on a receiver.

Due to the fact that Starlink can’t be censored, it is becoming an increasingly important tool in geopolitics. Notably, it has been an important tool for the Ukrainians, helping the government with its connectivity needs while Russia tries to damage infrastructure.