The US president says he intends to expand his crackdown on drug cartels<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday that he has authorized CIA operations on Venezuelan soil.
\nThe New York Times earlier reported that the decision would allow intelligence operatives to carry out lethal operations against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose government Trump has accused of running \u201cnarco-terrorist\u201d cartels and flooding the US with cocaine and fentanyl.
\nA reporter asked Trump in the Oval Office, \u201cWhy did you authorize the CIA to go into Venezuela?\u201d
\n\u201cI authorized for two reasons, really,\u201d Trump replied. \u201cNumber one, they [Venezuela] have emptied their prisons into the United States of America.\u201d
\n\u201cAnd the other thing is the drugs. We have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela, and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea, so you get to see that, but we\u2019re going to stop them by land also,\u201d he added.
\nTrump declined to clarify whether the CIA is authorized to \u201ctake out Maduro.\u201d
\n\u201cI don\u2019t want to answer a question like that. Wouldn\u2019t it be a ridiculous question for me to answer?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Trump confirms that he authorized the CIA to enter Venezuela and says that now the US will “go” by land:”I authorized it for two reasons: first, they emptied their prisons and sent us criminals (\u2026) The other is drugs. A lot of drugs come by sea. But now we’re going to focus on\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/fMPxs9TDkC\u2014 Rogelio Maldonado (@M20Roge) October 15, 2025 <\/p>\n
Trump imposed sweeping sanctions on Venezuela during his first term and has recently raised the bounty for information leading to Maduro\u2019s arrest to $50 million. The US has deployed a naval armada to the eastern Caribbean, and since September has destroyed at least five boats allegedly smuggling drugs from Venezuela.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
US weighing plot to assassinate Maduro \u2013 Politico<\/p>\n
Maduro has denied the allegations of aiding cartels and accused the US of seeking to topple him, adding that the Venezuelan military is ready to repel a potential invasion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US president says he intends to expand his crackdown on drug cartels US President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday that he has authorized CIA operations on Venezuelan soil. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t