WASHINGTON, Oct 16 (The African Portal) – US President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday that he authorised the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, marking a sharp escalation in US efforts to pressure President Nicolas Maduro’s government.
The New York Times first reported the classified directive, citing US officials familiar with the decision, saying the Trump administration’s Venezuela strategy aims to remove Maduro from power. The administration has offered $50 million for information leading to Maduro’s arrest and conviction on drug trafficking charges.
Trump said he authorised the action because large amounts of drugs were entering the United States from Venezuela, much of it trafficked by sea.
“We are looking at land now, because we’ve got the sea very well under control,” Trump said.
The Venezuelan government said Trump’s statement constituted a violation of international law and the United Nations charter. It added that US actions aimed to legitimise a “regime change” operation with the ultimate goal of seizing Venezuela’s oil resources.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro decried what he called “coups d’etat orchestrated by the CIA” shortly 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: 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.
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 use US military power in new, and often legally contentious, ways, from deploying active-duty US troops in Los Angeles to carrying out counterterrorism strikes against drug trafficking suspects.
The Pentagon recently disclosed to Congress that Trump has determined the United States is engaged in “a non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels.
Trump: Venezuela released prisoners into US
Trump also accused Venezuela of releasing large numbers of prisoners, including individuals from mental health facilities, into the United States, although he did not specify which border they were crossing.
The Trump administration has provided scant information about the strikes, frustrating members of Congress, including some of his fellow Republicans.
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.
Credit: France24
