WASHINGTON, Oct 16: U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday confirmed that he had authorised the Central Intelligence Agency to conduct covert operations in Venezuela amid escalating tensions between Washington and Caracas, according to Al Jazeera. Trump also said his administration was considering land-based military operations following recent U.S. missile strikes on Venezuelan boats in the Caribbean Sea, Al Jazeera reported.
During a news conference at the White House, Trump faced questions about a New York Times report revealing the CIA authorisation. When asked directly why he gave the order, he said, “They have emptied their prisons into the United States,” adding that Venezuela was a source of narcotics flowing into the country. “We’re going to stop them by land also,” he said, according to Al Jazeera.
The remarks marked a fresh escalation in Trump’s long-running confrontation with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Both countries have recently strengthened their military presence near the Caribbean amid growing tensions, Al Jazeera said.
In response, Venezuela condemned the CIA authorisation, accusing Washington of breaking international law and the UN Charter. “The purpose of U.S. actions is to justify a regime-change operation and take control of our national resources,” the Maduro government said in a statement, according to Al Jazeera.
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When reporters pressed Trump on whether the CIA was authorised to “take out” Maduro, he refused to answer directly. “Wouldn’t it be a ridiculous question for me to answer?” he said, though adding that Venezuela was “feeling heat,” Al Jazeera reported.
Trump’s rhetoric has often cast Venezuela as a national security threat. Since his second term began, he has invoked wartime powers such as the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, claiming without evidence that Caracas was sending criminals and mentally ill people into the U.S. to destabilise it. His intelligence agencies have repeatedly contradicted those claims, Al Jazeera said.
In May, a declassified report by U.S. intelligence agencies found no proof linking Maduro’s government to criminal organisations like Tren de Aragua, contrary to Trump’s assertions. Still, he repeated the charge that Venezuela had sent prisoners into the U.S., saying, “Many countries have done it, but not like Venezuela,” according to Al Jazeera.
The CIA authorisation appears part of a wider campaign to expand covert and military actions abroad. Al Jazeera noted that Trump has signed secret orders allowing operations against drug cartels and Latin American criminal groups. In October, he told Congress the U.S. was in a “non-international armed conflict” with those networks and labelled them “unlawful combatants.”
Experts cited by Al Jazeera said such designations lack clear legal standing for military action. Groups like Tren de Aragua are now listed as “foreign terrorist organisations,” but that alone does not authorise strikes under international law.
Recent U.S. actions in the Caribbean show the military escalation already under way. Since early September, American forces have carried out at least five strikes on small vessels off Venezuela’s coast, killing 27 people, Al Jazeera reported. A video shared by Trump on Tuesday showed a missile strike setting a boat ablaze, killing six people.
Legal analysts and former U.S. military officials told Al Jazeera the attacks likely violate international law, as drug traffickers do not qualify as combatants. Washington has not provided proof that the destroyed vessels carried narcotics. Still, Trump defended the actions, saying, “When they’re loaded up with drugs, they’re fair game.” He added that “fentanyl dust” was found on destroyed boats, Al Jazeera reported.
Framing the strikes as successful, Trump said his administration had “almost totally stopped” drug smuggling by sea and would now focus on land operations. “We are certainly looking at land now because we’ve got the sea very well under control,” he said, according to Al Jazeera.
