Trump Confirms Authorizing CIA Operations in Venezuela

By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday that he personally authorized CIA operations inside Venezuela — an admission that follows reports by The New York Times detailing a covert campaign targeting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

According to the report, the authorization allows intelligence operatives to conduct lethal operations against the Venezuelan leader, whom Trump has accused of running “narco-terrorist cartels” and flooding the US with cocaine and fentanyl.

When asked in the Oval Office why he had approved such operations, Trump responded, “I authorized for two reasons, really. Number one, they [Venezuela] have emptied their prisons into the United States of America”.

“And the other thing is the drugs,” he continued. “We have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela, and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea, so you get to see that, but we’re going to stop them by land also”.

Pressed by a reporter on whether the CIA had been authorized to “take out Maduro,” Trump refused to give a direct answer. “I don’t want to answer a question like that,” he said. “Wouldn’t it be a ridiculous question for me to answer?”

During his first term, Trump imposed sweeping economic sanctions on Venezuela and has since raised the bounty for information leading to Maduro’s arrest to $50 million. The US has also deployed a naval armada in the eastern Caribbean, destroying at least five boats since September that Washington claimed were smuggling drugs from Venezuela.

Maduro has consistently denied the US accusations, calling them “fabricated pretexts for aggression,” and accused Washington of seeking to overthrow his government. He reiterated that Venezuela’s armed forces remain fully prepared to repel any potential invasion.