Order revives concerns about past CIA involvement in coups, assassinations and support for rebels in the 1980s
Tensions between the United States and Venezuela have escalated as Washington significantly stepped up its naval and covert operations near Venezuelan waters, prompting Caracas to warn that it viewed the measures as a direct threat to its sovereignty. PHOTO: REUTERS
Donald Trump’s administration has quietly authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, intensifying its efforts to pressure President Nicolás Maduro, the New York Times reported under US officials. The move reflects a deepening U.S. campaign to oust Maduro, criticized by Americans as an authoritarian leader.
In recent weeks, U.S. military operations have targeted boats off the Venezuelan coast that authorities say were involved in drug trafficking. These operations resulted in the death of at least 27 people. Privately, senior U.S. officials have said their broader goal is regime change in Caracas.
President Trump publicly acknowledged the secret authorization shortly after The New York Times reported on it. “We’re certainly looking at dry land now, because we have the sea very well under control,” Trump told reporters, indicating that U.S. military action on Venezuelan territory was being considered.
If launched, such strikes would mark a significant escalation. So far, the administration has emphasized that recent boat collisions have occurred in international waters.
The CIA’s new authority allows the agency to conduct deadly covert operations in Venezuela and potentially the Caribbean. These actions could include direct operations against Maduro or officials in his government – either independently or in conjunction with broader military efforts. It is unclear whether the CIA is currently planning specific missions.
Simultaneously, the US military is preparing options for further escalation, including potential strikes on Venezuelan soil, which will be considered by Trump.
The development echoes the United States’ long and often controversial history of covert and overt interventions in Latin America. From military invasions to CIA-backed coups, US actions in the region have had profound consequences.
History of American covert operations in Latin America
Guatemala, 1954
In one of its first interventions during the Cold War, the CIA supported a coup d’état aimed at overthrowing Guatemala’s democratically elected president, Jacobo Árbenz, according to a New York Times report. The Eisenhower administration presented the operation as a necessary fight against communism.
However, CIA files later revealed that the agency had compiled assassination lists and trained exiles for the mission. Árbenz had opposed powerful American interests, notably the United Fruit Company, by implementing land reforms that threatened his farms.
The coup plunged Guatemala into a decades-long civil war, which cost an estimated 150,000 lives, mostly at the hands of government forces.
Cuba, 1961
After Fidel Castro’s revolution in 1959, the CIA planned and executed the infamous Bay of Pigs invasion, the New York Times reported. The agency trained and equipped Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro’s regime, launching the assault from Guatemala.
The operation ended in disaster: poorly coordinated and lacking local support, the exiles were quickly defeated and nearly 1,200 were captured. A subsequent CIA report criticized the agency’s lack of understanding and preparation, noting that few of those involved spoke Spanish and calling the organizational structure “bizarre.”
Assassination plots
The CIA attempted to assassinate Castro at least eight times, according to a 1975 Senate Intelligence Committee report. These included poisoning cigars, contaminating a diving suit with tuberculosis, and using explosive shells. One plan involved working with organized crime figures to deliver poison pills to agents in Cuba.
Dominican Republic, 1961
According to the New York Times, the agency supplied weapons to those who assassinated dictator Rafael Trujillo. During the same decade, CIA agents also played a role in the capture of revolutionary Che Guevara in Bolivia in 1967. Guevara was later executed by Bolivian troops.
Chile, 1970s
When socialist Salvador Allende became president of Chile in 1970, the Nixon administration viewed his government as a threat. The CIA undertook various covert actions to destabilize his regime, including funding anti-government propaganda, encouraging strikes, and lobbying to block international loans to Chile.
Declassified documents show Nixon instructed the CIA to “make the economy scream.” Although direct U.S. involvement in the 1973 coup that toppled Allende remains unproven, the CIA had laid the groundwork for the unrest. Allende died during the military assault on the presidential palace, and General Augusto Pinochet quickly established a repressive dictatorship that lasted 16 years.
The Trump administration’s covert action in Venezuela, if confirmed, represents the continuation of a controversial legacy of U.S. intervention in Latin America. While the CIA and the US military are reportedly preparing for possible action, the situation is raising concerns about the stability of the region – and the possibility of history repeating itself.
