Trump escalates conflict with Venezuela with the start of covert operations

The United States has launched a new phase of military operations in its offensive against Venezuela to achieve its two objectives: to intensify the war on drugs and to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Following the U.S. military’s bombing of some 30 suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, which left more than 100 people dead and resulted in the interception of two oil tankers, U.S. President Donald Trump has confirmed the first ground operation in Venezuela.

The Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) attack on a port facility off the coast of Venezuela, the first U.S. ground attack in the Caribbean nation, is part of this new strategy. The operation, of which many details remain unknown, was carried out using drones at a dock on the Venezuelan coast.

U.S. authorities suspected that the drug cartel known as Tren de Aragua was using the infrastructure to store drugs and transport them via other vessels, according to CNN, which cited sources familiar with the matter. The drone strike, coordinated by the CIA, was swift and caused no casualties, as it occurred when no one was in the vicinity of the facility.

Many unknowns

There is a striking lack of information about the strike. The exact location of the attack, the time, and the number of personnel involved are unknown, beyond the fact that several drones were used. It is also unclear whether the CIA had military support. Colonel Allie Weiskopf, spokesperson for the special operations command, denied the military’s involvement in the ground attack on Venezuela, despite speculation about intelligence support.

Covert operations backed by the CIA are at the top of the range of options being considered by the White House as part of Trump’s new escalation against Maduro, two senior U.S. officials told Reuters.

The Republican magnate confirmed the first U.S. ground attack in Venezuela during an interview last Friday with John Catsimatidis, owner of the conservative New York radio station WABC. Catsimatidis, a billionaire owner of a supermarket chain in Manhattan, didn’t grasp the implications of Trump’s words when he asked him about the U.S. military campaign in Venezuela: “They have a big plant or a big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from. Two nights ago we knocked that out,” said Trump.

Social media picked up on the president’s message. It went viral, and on Monday, journalists asked Trump about the attack during his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” replied Trump. “They load the boats up with drugs, so we hit all the boats and now we hit the area. It’s the implementation area. There’s where they implement. And that is no longer around.”

The U.S. president avoided confirming whether the military was behind the attack. “I know exactly who it was, but I don’t want to say who it was. But you know it was along the shore,” he added, in comments that only deepened the doubts and questions surrounding the attack. Neither the CIA, the White House, nor the Pentagon has offered any explanation for the strike. The Venezuelan government has also remained silent on the operation revealed by Trump.

Senior officials in Washington have asserted, both in briefings with lawmakers and in public statements, that the United States intends to continue targeting suspected drug traffickers using a strategy similar to that employed in the war on terror against al-Qaeda in the past decade. The CIA played a crucial role during that campaign. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has openly compared drug traffickers to al-Qaeda.

Third phase

The ground operation on a dock in Venezuela represents the first step in the third phase of Washington’s campaign against Caracas, aimed at intensifying pressure on Maduro.

U.S. pressure began after Trump’s victory in the November elections last year. He then began linking Maduro to drug trafficking and labeled Venezuela a narco-state. He designated the so-called Cartel de los Soles — a purported drug-trafficking group — as a terrorist organization and portrayed the Venezuelan president as the ringleader of this network.

A couple of months ago, the U.S. launched Operation Southern Spear in its fight against drug trafficking. It began concentrating a large military contingent in the region and deployed its largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, to the Caribbean Sea. The United States has assembled its largest military deployment near Venezuela in decades, with more than 14,000 troops and a fleet of warships.

In September, it began launching attacks against suspected drug-running boats sailing in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela. Since then, it has bombed more than 30 alleged drug-running boats, without congressional approval or judicial authorization, resulting in the deaths of 102 people.

These operations have been mired in controversy since it emerged a few weeks ago that two people survived one of the U.S. military attacks in early September on a vessel allegedly carrying drugs. Published reports claim that Admiral Frank Bradley ordered a second strike to kill the survivors, acting on orders from the secretary of defense. If confirmed, these allegations could amount to war crimes. The incident is being investigated by bipartisan committees in both chambers of Congress.

The second phase of the strategy to intensify pressure on Maduro was the interception and seizure of the cargo of two oil tankers in Caribbean waters. The action, led by the U.S. Coast Guard, came after Trump announced a “total and complete blockade” on all oil tankers sanctioned by Washington entering and leaving the South American country.

The operation has fueled speculation about U.S. interest in Venezuela’s oil. The Caribbean nation holds the world’s largest crude reserves, but its oil industry has become inefficient after years of underinvestment and the withdrawal of international companies capable of developing it.

Analysts had been expecting a military intervention against ground targets in Venezuela for weeks. Trump revealed some time ago that everything was in place to begin that phase of the operation. In early December, after a meeting with his Cabinet, he said: “If we have to, we’ll attack on land. The land is much easier. We know the routes they take. We know everything about them.” “We’re taking those sons of a bitches out,” he added, referring to drug traffickers.

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