The Curious Case of the Ship Not Lost at Sea
Venezuela claimed the US seized a food shipment- the story quickly fell apart
(Baranquilla, Colombia) This week, Venezuela watchers saw a false news story blossom and propagate in real-time. It was a fascinating case study in how misinformation is amplified by Russian media and their allied voices, especially on the web.
On August 7th Delcy Rodriguez, vice-president of Venezuela made a claim through twitter that, if true, would be troubling.
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela denounces before the world that at this moment a ship is being held at Panama Canal that is carrying 25 thousand tons of soy protein for the production of food in our country, in attention to the criminal blockade imposed by @realDonaldTrump
She provided no proof for her accusation, though a few minutes later she did post this screen shot from ship-tracker software showing the cargo ship supposedly held in the Panama Canal.
Strangely, Venezuela Analysis, the state-run media company of Venezuela did not pick up the story. TeleSur, whom have often backed up other ridiculous and…
