On September 15, US President Donald Trump announced that he had authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to carry out secret operations in Venezuela. The New York Times said that this authorization means allowing the CIA to carry out "deadly operations" in Venezuela and the Caribbean, and possibly even co-operate with the U.S. military to carry out larger ground operations. Since September, the U.S. government has deployed a large number of military ships in the Caribbean Sea and pretexted "combating drug trafficking" in the outer seas of Venezuela to sink five so-called Venezuelan "drug trafficking ships" and kill 27 people.

Three B-52s appear in the offshore airspace of the Commission

According to CNN, Trump said at the White House on the 15th that he had authorized the CIA to carry out secret operations in Venezuela and also claimed that he would carry out a "ground strike." Trump said the move was mainly to "combat drug trafficking.""We have a lot of drugs flowing in from Venezuela." He said that many drugs enter by sea, but the United States has good control of the sea and is focusing on "land strikes to stop them."

Speaking at a White House press conference on why he didn¡¯t order the Coast Guard to intercept drug trafficking vessels as it has been conventional for decades, Trump said that it was ¡°not working.¡±A reporter asked: ¡°Will the CIA kill Maduro?¡±

The New York Times said on the 15th that after being authorized, the CIA will be able to unilaterally or cooperate with the US military to carry out larger-scale ground military operations and take "secret actions" against Maduro's government and himself. It is unclear whether the CIA plans to take any specific actions in Venezuela. According to the report, the U.S. government's strategy for Venezuela was formulated by Secretary of State rubio in cooperation with CIA Director Ratcliffe. Ratcliffe said earlier that the CIA would be more willing to take risks and carry out secret operations under the orders of the president, "going where others dare not go and doing things that others dare not do". Some American officials privately said that the "ultimate goal of the United States is to oust Maduro".

According to U.S. Newsweek, on the 15th, three B-52 bombers appeared near Venezuelan near-sea airspace on the same day. On the same day, the U.S. Navy's 22nd Expedition Marine Corps was also conducting combat exercises in the Caribbean Sea. The U.S. Southern Command said the Expedition Force would execute orders to "fight illegal drug trafficking."

"How long will the CIA continue to carry out a coup?"

Venezuela¡¯s president, Nicolas Maduro, spoke on national television on Thursday night, accusing the CIA¡¯s covert operations in Venezuela of attempting a coup d¡¯état.Maduro criticized: ¡°How long will the CIA continue to carry out the coup d¡¯état?

For a long time, the CIA has planned, launched, and participated in coups or carried out "secret military operations" in Latin America many times. In 1954, the CIA overthrew then-President Abenz of Guatemala by training rebels and planning a coup, because his land reform threatened the interests of United Fruit Company. In 1961, the CIA trained Cuban exiled armed forces to invade the Bay of Pigs, Cuba, in an attempt to overthrow Cuban leader Castro, but ended in catastrophic failure. The CIA also participated in or planned the 1964 Brazilian coup and the 1973 Chilean coup.

Earlier that day, Maduro also ordered military exercises and called on the military, police and militias to defend Venezuela¡¯s ¡°mountains, coasts, schools, hospitals, factories.¡±

On the same day, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Hill issued a government communique on social media, accusing Trump of authorizing the CIA to carry out secret operations in Venezuela, which "constituted a threat and aggression against Venezuela" and seriously violated international law and the Charter of the United Nations. Venezuela will lodge a complaint with the UN Security Council on the 16th, demanding that the international community condemn the US actions and take urgent measures to prevent military escalation in the Caribbean.

"Is the United States going to invade Venezuela?" Venezuelan television said Cabello, leader of the ruling Socialist Party of Unity, said that the CIA's covert operations are usually opening the way for coups, assassinations and dirty wars in Latin America. "The people of the Americas have experienced a coup planned and implemented by the CIA."

"Aimed at the whole of Latin America"

Many Latin American leaders also strongly oppose the threat of force by the United States against Venezuela. Colombian President Petro posted on social media: "A new front of the war has been opened." He said, "This is not a war against drug trafficking, this is a war for oil, and the whole world must stop this aggression. This aggression is against the whole of Latin America and the Caribbean." Petro is preparing to convene a meeting of foreign ministers of Caribbean countries to "stop the American aggression."

The U.S. government also demanded that the small Caribbean country, Grenada, allow the U.S. military to set up an air base at its international airport to monitor Venezuela.In this regard, former Senate Chairman Humphrey said the U.S. military operations had nothing to do with anti-drugs, ¡°The U.S. has often lied to cover up its intentions before the start of the war, as it did in the eve of the war in Iraq, it has been a long time.¡±

Trump¡¯s authorization of CIA to conduct covert operations against Venezuela has also sparked concerns and opposition within the United States. The US Newsweek on Friday that Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democratic MP Jenny Shahin issued a statement saying: ¡°Trump authorized CIA to take covert operations and hinted that it will conduct ground operations in Venezuela, which bring the United States closer to direct conflict in the absence of transparency and supervision. The American people have the right to know whether the government is bringing the United States into another conflict, whether it is putting the Americans in danger, whether it is pushing for regime change actions.¡± Democratic Senator Adam Heff also said: ¡°Only Congress has the power to declare war ... to bomb ships under no legal circumstances, the covert operation may drag the United States into

Republican lawmaker Rand Paul also argued that the government needs to provide evidence to prove that those deadly attacks (meaning that the U.S. military had previously sinked so-called ¡°drug ships¡± and killed 27 people) were ¡°justified¡± and ¡°do we ask for the names of the victims and the evidence that they were guilty, is it excessive?¡±