President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he has authorized the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela, marking a sharp escalation in the regime’s pressure campaign against President Nicolas Maduro’s government, The Guardian reported.
President Trump also indicated he was considering an attack on Venezuelan territory, a drastic step beyond a recent series of deadly attacks on boats in the Caribbean that Democrats and U.N. experts have forcefully condemned as illegal.
President Maduro followed Trump’s remarks by condemning what he called a “CIA-orchestrated coup.”
“No to war in the Caribbean…no to regime change…no to a CIA-orchestrated coup,” the leftist leader said in a speech to a commission set up after Washington deployed warships to the Caribbean in what it called a counter-drug operation.
Experts have repeatedly questioned some of the president’s claims about the threat Venezuelans pose to the United States.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration said the U.S. was in a state of “armed conflict” with drug cartels, justifying the escalation of military action needed to stem the flow of drugs.
The move has sparked outrage in Congress from members of both major political parties, who say President Trump is effectively committing an act of war without seeking Congressional approval.
MNA