Trump approves CIA operations in Venezuela, increasing pressure on Maduro.

Trump – (Special Correspondent / Web Desk) – US President Donald Trump revealed on Wednesday that he authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to begin covert activities in Venezuela, signaling a significant increase in US pressure on President Nicolas Maduro’s regime.

The classified directive was initially published by the New York Times, citing US individuals familiar with the decision, who stated that the Trump administration’s Venezuela plan aimed to remove Maduro from power.

The government has offered a $50 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest and conviction on drug trafficking accusations.

The new authority would allow the CIA to carry out lethal operations in Venezuela and conduct a range of operations in the Caribbean, the Times reported.

Asked why he authorised the CIA to operate in Venezuela, Trump told reporters his reasons were migration of Venezuelans to the United States and drug trafficking.

“I authorised 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. They came in because we had an open border,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.

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“And the other thing are drugs,” Trump said.

Trump has not provided evidence for his claim that Venezuela is sending former prisoners to the US.

He added that the US has made progress intercepting drug shipments at sea, and that additional efforts are now focused on overland routes.

“We are looking at land now, because we’ve got the sea very well under control,” Trump said.

Reuters could not independently determine what particular steps Trump has authorized, and the White House declined to elaborate on the president’s remarks.

Historically, the agency’s involvement in such operations has ranged from direct paramilitary combat to intelligence collecting and support tasks with minimal physical footprint.

The CIA has a lengthy history of operations in Latin America, particularly during the Cold War, and helped bring down South America’s cocaine trafficking empires toward the close of the twentieth century.

According to Reuters, the CIA has been conducting clandestine operations in Mexico for several years to track down the country’s most wanted drug traffickers.

Venezuela’s government said Trump’s remarks constituted a violation of international law and said US actions were aimed at legitimising a “regime change” operation with the goal of seizing the country’s oil resources.

“Our Permanent Mission to the UN will raise this complaint with the Security Council and the secretary general tomorrow, demanding accountability from the United States government,” Venezuela said in a statement released by Foreign Minister Yvan Gil on his Telegram account.

‘Venezuela feeling heat’

Trump has repeatedly accused Venezuela of being a hub for trafficking of the deadly drug fentanyl, but US records have shown that Mexico is the main source of fentanyl.

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Trump was asked by a reporter why he did not have the Coast Guard stop suspected drug trafficking boats, which has been US practice for decades.

Trump called such efforts “politically correct” and said they had not worked.

Trump declined to answer when asked if the CIA has the authority to execute Maduro, saying: “I think Venezuela is feeling heat.”

Trump has ordered a large US military buildup in the southern Caribbean, and the troops have conducted at least five strikes on vessels the Trump administration has described as involved in drug trafficking, without providing evidence.

The campaign is the most recent example of Trump’s efforts to utilize US military force in novel, and often legally problematic, ways, ranging from putting active-duty US troops in Los Angeles to conducting counterterrorism operations against drug traffickers.

The Pentagon recently informed Congress that Trump has determined that the United States is fighting “a non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels.

‘Venezuela also released inmates into the US’

Trump also accused Venezuela of releasing a huge number of convicts, including those from mental health facilities, into the United States, but he did not specify which border they crossed.

Neither Maduro’s Information Ministry nor press representatives for opposition leader Maria Corina Machado immediately responded to requests for comment on Trump’s remarks.

The Trump administration has provided scant information about the strikes, frustrating members of Congress, including some of his fellow Republicans.

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On Wednesday, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the administration moved the US closer to outright conflict.

“The American people deserve to know if the Administration is leading the US into another conflict, putting service members at risk or pursuing a regime-change operation,” she said in a statement.