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TRUMP SAYS HE AUTHORIZED COVERT CIA OPERATIONS IN VENEZUELA AS MADURO
DECRIES THE MOVE AS ‘COUPS D’ETAT’  
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Sam Levin
October 15, 2025
The Guardian
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_ Move marks escalation in Maduro pressure campaign as president says
US mulling strikes on Venezuelan territory _

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Al Jazeera

 

Donald Trump [[link removed]] said
on Wednesday he had authorized the CIA to carry out covert operations
in Venezuela, marking a sharp escalation in his administration’s
pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro
[[link removed]]’s government.

Trump further suggested he was considering strikes on Venezuelan
territory, a dramatic step that would go beyond a series of recent
lethal attacks on boats
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the Caribbean, which Democrats
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United Nations experts have forcefully condemned
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unlawful.

Maduro decried what he called “coups d’etat orchestrated by the
CIA” after Trump’s comments.

“No to war in the Caribbean … No to regime change … No to coups
d’etat orchestrated by the CIA,” 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.

Trump’s remarks about the CIA confirmed an earlier story from
the New York Times
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which had reported on a classified directive about the secretive
operation in Venezuela.

Trump said his administration was “looking at land” as it
considers continued strikes in the region, but declined to answer when
pressed on whether the CIA had the authority to execute Maduro.

“I think Venezuela
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president added.

Trump justified the CIA’s intervention by repeating his claims that
Venezuela had been releasing prisoners into the US, including
individuals from mental health facilities – echoing baseless
assertions
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became one of his common refrains
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the campaign trail
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year. He also claimed that Venezuela was bringing large volumes of
drugs into the US by sea.

Experts have repeatedly cast doubts
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some of the president’s claims about the threats Venezuelans pose in
the US.

Early this month, the Trump administration said the US was now
in “armed conflict” with drug cartels
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justifying the military action as a necessary escalation to stem the
flow of drugs.

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.”

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. He has also said the strikes were targeting members of the
Tren de Aragua gang, claims the White House has not supported
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concrete proof.

UN experts said
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September that the strikes on vessels violated international law, and
a Democratic congressman said over the weekend that the attacks were
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killings” that “wouldn’t stand up in a single court of law”.

The Trump administration earlier this year cited unsubstantiated
claims of affiliation with the Tren de Aragua gang to
fast-track deportations
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Venezuelans to a notorious El Salvador prison
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Trump has also pushed to end the temporary legal status
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hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans.

Trump has accused 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.

_Sam Levin is a correspondent for Guardian US, based in Los
Angeles. Click here
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Sam's public key. Twitter @SamTLevin
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* Venezuela
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* CIA
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* U.S. intervention
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* coup d'etat
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* Nicolas Maduro
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* Donald Trump
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