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SpaceX is offering free Starlink internet to the people of Venezuela following the US government's airstrikes and capture of former President Nicolás Maduro.
The service is live until Feb. 3 for people who already own a Starlink dish. The catch is US sanctions prevent the official sale of Starlink service in the country, so presumably only a small slice of the population can take advantage of the offer.
Starlink dishes are freely sold in Venezuela on the black market and openly advertised, Bloomberg reports, with customers paying for a global service plan using an international credit card to get around the ban. Black markets have also brought dishes to other unapproved countries, such as Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine and Sudan.
For those who have a dish and a Starlink account, SpaceX has proactively applied free credits to their account until Feb. 3, according to a Sunday blog post.
"If you already have a Starlink kit in your possession, you can select a Roam plan to use your Starlink in Venezuela," SpaceX writes. The company is "actively monitoring evolving conditions and regulatory requirements" and says it does not have a timeline for local purchase availability.
Starlink is available in all other South American countries except Bolivia and Suriname, which are coming online in 2026, according to a map on Starlink.com.
SpaceX has a history of providing free Starlink access to nations during periods of turmoil, such as in war-torn Ukraine and the island of Tonga after a subsea cable rupture, both in 2022.
Venezuela's capital city Caracas reportedly lost power following US airstrikes on Jan. 3. Some local outlets also reported outages in Miranda over the weekend, according to CNBC.
Venezuela also has a history of poor internet access, largely stemming from its economic crisis. Speed tests in 2024 confirmed it had the slowest mobile connection in Latin America, with an average speed of 14.59Mbps. That same study found the United Arab Emirates leads the world with a speed of 428.53Mbps, or almost 30x faster.