Donald Trump has confirmed he authorised the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, escalating his administration's pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro's government. The US president also suggested he was considering strikes on Venezuelan territory, a move that would go beyond recent lethal attacks on boats in the Caribbean, which have been condemned by Democrats and UN experts as unlawful.
Maduro responded by denouncing what he called 'coups d'etat orchestrated by the CIA' during an address to a committee. 'No to war in the Caribbean … No to regime change … No to coups d'etat orchestrated by the CIA,' the leftist leader said, as Washington deployed warships in the region for what it described as an anti-drug operation.
Trump's remarks confirmed a New York Times report on a classified directive about the secretive operation. He justified the intervention by repeating unsubstantiated claims that Venezuela was releasing prisoners into the US and bringing large volumes of drugs by sea, assertions that experts have repeatedly cast doubt upon.
The administration's actions have sparked bipartisan criticism in Congress. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, said: 'The Trump administration's authorisation 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.'
At least 27 people have been killed in the US Caribbean attacks so far. Maduro has ordered military exercises in the country's shantytowns and mobilised the military, police and civilian militia to defend Venezuela. UN experts have said the strikes on vessels violate international law, while a Democratic congressman described them as 'illegal killings'.
