Donald Trump confirmed reports on Wednesday that he authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, marking a sharp escalation in US efforts to pressure President Nicolás Maduro’s regime.
The New York Times first reported the classified directive, citing US officials familiar with the decision.
The US president said he authorized the action for two main reasons.
First, he claimed Venezuela had been releasing large numbers of prisoners, including individuals from mental health facilities, into the United States, often crossing the border due to what he described as an open border policy. Trump did not specify which border they were crossing.
The second reason, he said, was the large amount of drugs entering the US from Venezuela, much of it trafficked by sea.
“I think Venezuela is feeling heat,” Trump added, but declined to answer when asked if the CIA had the authority to execute Maduro.
Trump added the administration “is looking at land” as it considers further strikes in the region. He declined to say whether the CIA has authority to take action against Maduro.
Early this month, the Trump administration declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and pronounced the United States is now in an “armed conflict” with them, justifying the military action as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the US.
The move has spurred anger in Congress from members of both major political parties that Trump was effectively committing an act of war without seeking congressional authorization.
On Wednesday, Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democratic senator on the Senate foreign relations committee, said while she supports cracking down on trafficking, the administration has gone too far.
“The Trump administration’s authorization of covert CIA action, conducting lethal strikes on boats and hinting at land operations in Venezuela slides the United States closer to outright conflict with no transparency, oversight or apparent guardrails,” Shaheen said. “The American people deserve to know if the administration is leading the US into another conflict, putting servicemembers at risk or pursuing a regime-change operation.”
Maduro decried Trump’s comments in what he called “coups d’etat orchestrated by the CIA” shortly after Trump also said he was considering strikes against Venezuelan cartels on land.
“No to war in the Caribbean. No to regime change. No to coups d’etat orchestrated by the CIA,” Maduro, the leftist leader, said in an address to a committee set up after Washington deployed warships in the Caribbean for what it said was an anti-drug operation.
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At least 27 people have been killed in the US Caribbean attacks so far.
After another boat was struck, Maduro on Wednesday ordered military exercises in the country’s biggest shantytowns and said he was mobilizing the military, police and a civilian militia to defend Venezuela’s “mountains, coasts, schools, hospitals, factories and markets”.
Trump has claimed they are “narcoterrorists” without providing evidence.
The US leader accuses Maduro of heading a drug cartel – charges he denies. In August, Washington doubled a bounty for information leading to Maduro’s capture to $50m.
The Venezuelan leader is widely accused of having stolen elections last year.
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