President Donald Trump confirmed Oct. 15 that he has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela, marking an escalation in his administration’s campaign against Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Asked by a reporter in the Oval Office why he had “authorized the CIA to go into Venezuela,” Trump replied that he approved the move for two reasons.
“I authorized for two reasons, really,” Trump said. “Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America. They came in through the border.”
The second reason, he said, was narcotics trafficking: “And the other thing are drugs. 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.”
When pressed on whether the CIA has the authority to “take out” Maduro, Trump declined to answer directly.
“Oh, I don’t want to answer a question like that. That’s a ridiculous question for me to be given,” he said. “Not really a ridiculous question, but wouldn’t it be a ridiculous question for me to answer?”
He later added, “I think Venezuela is feeling heat, but I think a lot of other countries are feeling heat too.”
Just hours earlier, The New York Times reported that Trump had secretly granted the CIA permission to conduct covert and potentially lethal operations in Venezuela. The report stated that the agency could act independently or as part of a broader U.S. military campaign.
According to the Times, there are currently about 10,000 U.S. troops stationed near Venezuela, most of them in Puerto Rico, along with Navy warships and a submarine.
Trump’s acknowledgement of covert action in the country follows a string of lethal U.S. military strikes in recent weeks targeting suspect drug-smuggling vessels off Venezuela’s coast. The latest operation, carried out on Oct. 14, killed six men the administration described as “narcoterrorists.”
In August, the administration announced a $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Maduro, accusing him of violating U.S. narcotics laws. Earlier this year, in February, Trump also designated the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization.
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