The Guardian reports that the Central Intelligence Agency provided much of the information used to carry out the Trump administration’s controversial and deadly airstrike on a small Caribbean speedboat suspected of carrying drugs from Venezuela, according to three sources familiar with the operation.
Experts say the agency’s central role means much of the evidence used to choose which smugglers to kill on the high seas will almost certainly remain secret.
The authorities’ central role in the boat strike had not previously been revealed. Donald Trump acknowledged last Wednesday that he had approved the CIA’s covert operations in Venezuela, but not what the agency would do.
Sources say the CIA provides real-time information gathered through satellites and signal intercepts to detect ships suspected of carrying drugs, track their routes and make recommendations on which ships to attack with missiles.
Since early September, nearly 30 people have been killed in attacks on ships in the Caribbean that the Trump administration says are aimed at dismantling drug trafficking networks. Colombia on Monday recalled its ambassador to the United States amid a bitter war of words between Colombian President Gustavo Petro and President Trump over a deadly attack on a U.S. military boat in the Caribbean.