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The CIA was behind a drone strike last week on docking area allegedly used by Venezuelan drug cartelsaccording to two people familiar with the details of the operation who requested anonymity to discuss the classified matter.
The first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the United States began strikes in September marks a significant escalation in the administration’s months-long pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolas Madurothe government. The strike was not recognized by the Venezuelan authorities.
American President Donald Trump first referenced the operation in an interview Friday with John Catsimatidis on WABC radio in New York, saying the United States had destroyed some sort of “large facility where the ships were coming from.”
In an exchange with reporters Monday while hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump added that the operation targeted “a dock area where they load the drug boats.” But the president declined to comment when asked whether 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 Special Operations Command, which oversees U.S. operations in the Caribbean, said in a statement that “special operations did not support this operation to include intelligence support.”
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The strike intensifies what began as a massive reinforcement of American personnel in the Caribbean Sea starting in August, which was followed by at least 30 U.S. military strikes against suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. Most recently, Trump ordered a near-blockade aimed at seizing sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.
CNN was the first to report on the CIA’s involvement in the operation.
Trump had threatened for months that he might soon order strikes on targets on Venezuelan territory. He also took the unusual step of publicly acknowledging that he had authorized the CIA to carry out covert actions in Venezuela.
The administration is required to report covert CIA actions to senior congressional officials, including the president and ranking members of the Senate and House intelligence committees. But Trump, by entrusting what appears to be the first ground strike of the Venezuelan campaign to the intelligence services, may be calculating that the action would be less scrutinized by lawmakers than a military strike.
“I authorized, really, for two reasons. One, they emptied their prisons in the United States of America,” he said in October when confirming to reporters his approval for the CIA to act. “And the other thing, drugs, we have a lot of drugs coming from Venezuela, and a lot of Venezuelan drugs are coming by sea.”
Meanwhile, Trump has repeatedly said Maduro’s days in power are numbered. The Venezuelan leader and members of his entourage have been under federal indictment in the United States since 2020 on narcoterrorism and other charges.
Maduro has denied the accusations. The US Department of Justice doubled the reward this year to $50 million for information leading to his arrest.
The Venezuelan president made no mention of the CIA operation during an hour-long speech Tuesday at an international leadership school for women.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
