Trump confirms he authorized the CIA to operate in Venezuela

The U.S. President, Donald Trump, confirmed this Wednesday that he authorized the CIA to operate in Venezuela. According to the president, he gave the authorization for “two reasons.” Firstly, because he considers that Venezuela has “emptied its prisons” towards the U.S.”. In his opinion, however, the criminals came to his nation because they had “an open border policy.” “Many, many countries did it, but not like Venezuela,” emphasized the occupant of the White House in a press conference.

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And the second reason, he added: “We have a lot of drugs coming from Venezuela. And many of the Venezuelan drugs come through the sea.” Before Trump confirmed it, The New York Times, citing U.S. officials, leaked that the president had secretly approved the CIA to carry out undercover operations in Venezuela, amid Washington’s tough rhetoric against the president of that nation, Nicolás Maduro.

Asked whether the CIA “has the authority to remove” the Chavista leader from power, the U.S. president limited himself to answer: “I don’t want to answer that question, it’s a ridiculous question. It would be ridiculous for me to answer that question. But I think Venezuela is feeling the pressure, but I think many countries are also feeling the pressure”.

Ground Attacks

During his speech from the White House, Trump has also revealed if he considers ordering ground attacks against Venezuela. “I don’t want to say it exactly, but we are definitely targeting the land part right now,” the president said during the press conference. “We have stopped it by sea, now we will stop it by land,” he stated regarding drug trafficking. To justify their possible measure, he mentioned that US forces have “a couple of days without finding a single ship”. This, despite the fact that on Tuesday he himself reported a “kinetic attack” against an alleged ‘narco-boat’, which left six people dead.

Since last September, U.S. military personnel have attacked small boats in Caribbean waters near Venezuela, with the allegation that they were ‘narco-boats’ destined for the North American country. According to their own data, with the last operation, the number of people killed at sea would rise to 27.

Caracas denounces “aggression”

Last August, the U.S. deployed a large contingent in Caribbean waters, near Venezuelan territory; and is currently carrying out military actions and bombings in the area with the argument —without basis or evidence— of combating drug trafficking cartels. Caracas has called these actions “aggression” and has questioned the true reason for the operations. President Maduro maintains that Venezuela is the victim of “a multiform war” orchestrated from the US. The Venezuelan State, he has reiterated, is being subjected to “an armed aggression to impose a regime change” and a “puppet” government, in order to “steal its oil, gas, gold and all natural resources”.