The CIA strikes a Venezuelan port suspected of being tied to drug cartels – nationally

The CIA staged a pilot strike last week at a hangar believed to be used by Venezuelan drug cartels, according to two people familiar with the operation who asked not to be identified to discuss the matter.

The first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the United States began strikes in September marks a major escalation in the administration’s months-long campaign to pressure the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Venezuelan officials have not yet approved the strike.

US President Donald Trump first spoke about the project in an interview on Friday with John Catsimatidis on WABC radio in New York, saying that the US has created some kind of “big place where ships come from.”

In an interview with reporters on Monday as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump added that the operation was targeting “the port area where they load boats and drugs.” But the president refused to comment when asked if the attack was carried out by the military or the CIA.

CIA and White House officials also declined to comment further on the matter. Col. Allie Weiskopf, a spokeswoman for the Special Operations Command, which oversees US operations in the Caribbean, said in a statement that “Special Operations did not support this operation to include intelligence support.”

The strike expands what began as a large number of US personnel in the Caribbean Sea since August, followed by at least 30 US military strikes on suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Most recently, Trump ordered a quasi-blockade aimed at holding oil tankers allowed in and out of Venezuela.

CNN first reported on the CIA’s involvement in the operation.

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Trump has threatened for months that he could soon order strikes on targets in Venezuela. He also took the unusual step of publicly admitting that he had authorized the CIA to carry out a covert operation inside Venezuela.

The administration is required to report covert CIA activities to senior congressional officials, including the chairmen and ranking members of both the Senate and House intelligence committees. But Trump, by entrusting what appears to be the first strike of the Venezuela campaign to the intelligence agency, may be calculating that the move will receive less scrutiny from lawmakers than a military strike.

“I authorized it for two reasons, really. No. 1, they emptied their prisons in the United States of America,” he said in October as he confirmed to reporters his authorization for the CIA to take action. “And the other thing, drugs, we have a lot of drugs from Venezuela, and a lot of Venezuelan drugs go into the sea.”

All the while, Trump has repeatedly said that Maduro’s days in power are numbered. The Venezuelan leader and members of his inner circle have been under federal prosecution in the United States since 2020 for narcoterrorism and other charges.

Maduro has denied the charges. The US Department of Justice this year doubled the $50 million reward for information leading to his arrest.

Venezuela’s president did not mention CIA operations during an hour-long speech Tuesday at an international leadership school for women.

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