Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

 

US President Donald Trump has confirmed he authorised the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela. He also mentioned potential strikes against drug cartels in the area. Recent US military actions have already resulted in at least five strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, killing 27 individuals, which UN experts have criticised as "extrajudicial executions."

 

The pressure mounts on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is not recognised as the legitimate leader by the US and others due to disputed elections, which has led to increased military presence in the region. The increased military presence by the US has raised anxiety in Caracas about a potential attack.

 

According to reports, Trump's authorisation allows the CIA to operate unilaterally or as part of a larger military effort in the region.

 

While it remains uncertain whether the CIA plans to act in Venezuela, Trump's admission of the agency's involvement is significant. In a rare confirmation, he cited two main reasons: Venezuelan prisoners allegedly entering the US and drugs coming from Venezuela, particularly via sea routes. However, he refrained from answering questions about whether the CIA could seek to overthrow Maduro, who has a $50 million bounty offered by the US.

 

In the most recent incident, a US strike on a boat near Venezuela's coast claimed six lives. Trump asserted that the vessel participated in drug trafficking along a well-known route, but he did not specify the specific organisations involved. In response, President Maduro has ordered military exercises and the mobilisation of resources to defend Venezuela.

 

Venezuelan officials, including Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, have accused the US of attempting to exploit Venezuela's natural resources. Trump has stepped up military deployments, including warships and fighter jets, to tackle drug smuggling. Allegations persist that Maduro is linked with a trafficking organisation called the Cartel of the Suns, though Maduro denies such claims.

 

 

Key Takeaways

 

• Trump confirmed authorising CIA operations in Venezuela, raising tensions.
• US strikes in the region have been labelled as "extrajudicial" by UN experts.
• Maduro and Venezuelan officials accuse the US of exploiting their resources.

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Venezuelans Protest & Clash with Police After Disputed Election Result

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from BBC 2025-10-16

 

 

Prefer it be trump sending em there than Biden letting them all in here

Trump would be better advised to clean up the drug activity in his own country.

Not so covert anymore i guess. 

Because US meddling in South America has always worked out just exactly as planned.

 

1 hour ago, Mason45 said:

Trump would be better advised to clean up the drug activity in his own country.

Closing the southern border and taking out drug running boats isn't doing this? Stopping drugs coming in is surely part of cleaning up the drug problem by trying to stop the supply. According to the FBI over 400kg of fentanyl seized in 3 months. Of course we all know that a "war on drugs" doesn't work but if it's stopping or at the very least reducing drugs like fentanyl flowing in that's has to be a positive. As for the CIA in Venezuela my guess is they've been there for a long time.

President Nicolas Maduro and President Donald Trump, two peas in the same pod.

56 minutes ago, blaze master said:

Not so covert anymore i guess. 

Guess a broken clock is correct twice a day as I find myself agreeing with you lol anyway I hope his big mouth doesn’t get anybody killed.they (madero and his thugs) will leave no stone unturned now to be sure and this bit of unnecessary braggadocio will certainly hamper any continued success.not smart.In my view.

21 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Closing the southern border and taking out drug running boats isn't doing this? Stopping drugs coming in is surely part of cleaning up the drug problem by trying to stop the supply. Of course we all know that a "war on drugs" doesn't work but if it's stopping or at the very least reducing drugs like fentanyl flowing in that's has to be a positive. As for the CIA in Venezuela my guess is they've been there for a long time.

Maybe Trump could get the Thai influencer from Sisaket to control operations from the southern border. I'm sure spraying people with effluent and playing very loud ghost like sounds all night will help to fix the problem.

Quite the admission, alright! The only other reports the US was involved in assassinations, torture, human rights abuses, drug-running, war crimes and interfering in foreign elections and destabilising sovereign countries was when they got caught!

4 hours ago, JimHuaHin said:

President Nicolas Maduro and President Donald Trump, two peas in the same pod.

Outsanding political knowledge. Well done.

I know how Trump plays the killing game. Like a psychopath. He gets a kick out of ordering killings.

 

When US intel monitored terror targets in Pakistan and Afghanistan, President Obama wanted to see the intel before authorizing a strike. Also, Obama refused authorization when the likelihood of innocents getting killed was high.

 

Trump authorizes just about anything, and couldn't care less about civilian casualties.

 

(A woman in S&T at the agency developed the weapon often called The Flying Ginsu. It was used to get Ayman al Zawahiri in Kabul under Biden. It can target an individual in a car, and mince only that one individual, leaving the other car occupants messy but uninjured.) Trump prefers missiles, because they make a bigger boom.

 

Finally, under Trump 2.0, lots of solid ops officers and members of the agency's Special Activity Center have retired or resigned. Lots of mediocrity remains. The intel on targets is often not good to begin with; it's likely worse now. I would not be the least bit surprised if some of the boats attacked off Venezuela were simply pleasure craft, uninvolved in anything nefarious.

5 hours ago, dinsdale said:

Closing the southern border and taking out drug running boats isn't doing this? Stopping drugs coming in is surely part of cleaning up the drug problem by trying to stop the supply. According to the FBI over 400kg of fentanyl seized in 3 months. Of course we all know that a "war on drugs" doesn't work but if it's stopping or at the very least reducing drugs like fentanyl flowing in that's has to be a positive. As for the CIA in Venezuela my guess is they've been there for a long time.

How much fentanyl was seized in 2024?

4 hours ago, Tug said:

Guess a broken clock is correct twice a day as I find myself agreeing with you lol anyway I hope his big mouth doesn’t get anybody killed.they (madero and his thugs) will leave no stone unturned now to be sure and this bit of unnecessary braggadocio will certainly hamper any continued success.not smart.In my view.

 

Well, I'm guessing Maduro would have been operating on the basis the CIA are inflitrating.

 

Sad to see Latin America go to the dogs. Have you seen what's going on in Cuba? Tihngs are worse than ever there. And Cuba was the big idol of Maduro.

2 hours ago, candide said:

How much fentanyl was seized in 2024?

https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/drug-seizure-statistics

20 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/drug-seizure-statistics

Thank you.

So, if I read well, less fentanyl seized in 2025.

3 hours ago, candide said:

Thank you.

So, if I read well, less fentanyl seized in 2025.

Yes. That's probably because there's less coming in. The two years previous when the border was wide open there was way more seized.

26 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Yes. That's probably because there's less coming in. The two years previous when the border was wide open there was way more seized.

Well, it's you who bragged about 400kg being seized in 3 months under Trump....

 

BTW, your argument doesn't hold, knowing that studies have shown that drug is mainly smuggled through official ports of entry, hidden in cars, trucks, trains, boats, and not carried by illegal immigrants crossing the border.

 

But don't let facts get in the way of a good MAGA fake propaganda! 🙂

20 minutes ago, candide said:

Well, it's you who bragged about 400kg being seized in 3 months under Trump....

 

BTW, your argument doesn't hold, knowing that studies have shown that drug is mainly smuggled through official ports of entry, hidden in cars, trucks, trains, boats, and not carried by illegal immigrants crossing the border.

 

But don't let facts get in the way of a good MAGA fake propaganda! 🙂

The OP I responded to was about reducing the problem. The problem is being reduced looking at the figures. This of course isn't to say there isn't a huge problem.

22 hours ago, Mason45 said:

Trump would be better advised to clean up the drug activity in his own country.

How do you think that happens?  Correct limit or cut off the supply.  I can remember 30 plus years ago when weed would be scarce for weeks.  Same thing, people may just change to what's available but hopefully it's less deadly than something with Fentanyl.

US Military use a Hellfire missile costing 150k USD to obliterate an 'alleged' drug smuggling boat and kill all on board while destroying the evidence.

British Royal Marine fires one .50 calibre sniper round costing 5-10 USD accurately into the engine of an alleged smuggling boat forcing it to stop and all persons on board were arrested with the evidence.

 

On 10/16/2025 at 7:11 AM, blaze master said:

Not so covert anymore i guess. 

Some tell me that doubting trump's mental ability is unwarranted. Then hi not public statement, announcing a "covert" CIA operation in a sovereign country. Reasoning cited different ... invading another sovereign country? Perhaps that is why he is to meet with Putin in Hungry ... to get pointers.

Proof of guilt? I guess due process is not the necessity it once was. Public executions can now go ahead because people accept it.

 

Let's hope Maduro doesn't publicly execute CIA operatives and show them on live TV.

On 10/16/2025 at 7:04 AM, Cameroni said:

 

Well, I'm guessing Maduro would have been operating on the basis the CIA are inflitrating.

 

Sad to see Latin America go to the dogs. Have you seen what's going on in Cuba? Tihngs are worse than ever there. And Cuba was the big idol of Maduro.

Have you seen what’s happened to Argentina, oh but Trumps using your tariffs money to bail them out. As for Cuba I guess 65 years of US embargo is going to have some effect. High tarilffs on Brazil because they’ve prosecuted your leaders pal. CIA backed assassination of Allende in Chile. Over the years the good ole US of A has certainly helped Latin America go to the dogs.

16 minutes ago, retayl said:

Have you seen what’s happened to Argentina, oh but Trumps using your tariffs money to bail them out. As for Cuba I guess 65 years of US embargo is going to have some effect. High tarilffs on Brazil because they’ve prosecuted your leaders pal. CIA backed assassination of Allende in Chile. Over the years the good ole US of A has certainly helped Latin America go to the dogs.

 

Yes, all of Latin America is an economic basket case. The cause is not America of course, but the fact that they keep voting in communists and socialists.

 

Lord knows why Latinos have this penchant for the worst form of government ever devised, but they do love socialists and communists.

40 minutes ago, Cameroni said:

 

Yes, all of Latin America is an economic basket case. The cause is not America of course, but the fact that they keep voting in communists and socialists.

 

Lord knows why Latinos have this penchant for the worst form of government ever devised, but they do love socialists and communists.

Then why Trump bail out Argentina knowing that the country is a basket case and likely to default on paying back. And why bail out a government that is the worst form of government ever devised. As we speak, Trump is considering to double the bail out to $40 B. Doesn't make any sense except that Trump is treating the country's coffers like his own. Sad and sick. 

5 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

Then why Trump bail out Argentina knowing that the country is a basket case and likely to default on paying back. And why bail out a government that is the worst form of government ever devised. As we speak, Trump is considering to double the bail out to $40 B. Doesn't make any sense except that Trump is treating the country's coffers like his own. Sad and sick. 

 

Javier Milei is not a communist or socialist. Surely that's obvious?

 

In Argentina things went wrong with De la Rua, the radical leftist, and Argentina tried to recover ever since. Nice of Trump to help them.

16 minutes ago, Cameroni said:

 

Javier Milei is not a communist or socialist. Surely that's obvious?

 

In Argentina things went wrong with De la Rua, the radical leftist, and Argentina tried to recover ever since. Nice of Trump to help them.

I get it that you support a non-America First policy and that Trump is unwilling to spend a dime to provide affordable heathcare to working class Americans while providing tax-payers money bail-out money with the unlikelihood that it will be repay to an unpopular politician that face an uncertain electoral future. You summed up the blind adoration of the Maga folks. 

3 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

I get it that you support a non-America First policy and that Trump is unwilling to spend a dime to provide affordable heathcare to working class Americans while providing tax-payers money bail-out money with the unlikelihood that it will be repay to an unpopular politician that face an uncertain electoral future. You summed up the blind adoration of the Maga folks. 

All always, the left has no honest response, to they regurgitate lies incessantly. 

16 minutes ago, mogandave said:

All always, the left has no honest response, to they regurgitate lies incessantly. 

I see the truth hurt and you have no intelligent rebuttal. Here is the inconvenient truth that Trump is not working for you but for himself, family and cronies. US is a crony capitalism like Argentina.