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.
Maduro decried 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.
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”.
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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.
