CIA revives Cold War tactics in secret Venezuela ops

Order revives concerns about CIA’s past involvement in coups, assassinations, and backing rebels in 1980s

The Donald Trump administration quietly authorised the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela, escalating efforts to pressure President Nicolás Maduro, The New York Times reported on the authority of US officials. The move reflects a deepening US campaign aimed at unseating Maduro, who is criticised by Americans as an authoritarian leader.

In recent weeks, US military operations have targeted boats off Venezuela’s coast, which officials claimed were involved in drug trafficking. These operations have resulted in the deaths of at least 27 people. Privately, senior US officials have said their broader goal is regime change in Caracas.

President Trump publicly acknowledged the covert authorisation shortly after NYT reported on it. “We are certainly looking at land now, because we’ve got the sea very well under control,” Trump told reporters, indicating that US military action inside Venezuelan territory was under consideration.

If launched, such strikes would mark a significant escalation. Until now, the administration has stressed that recent boat strikes occurred in international waters.

The new CIA authority permits the agency to conduct lethal covert operations within Venezuela and potentially across the Caribbean. These actions could include direct operations against Maduro or officials of his government — either independently or in conjunction with broader military efforts. It's unclear if the CIA is currently planning any specific missions.

Simultaneously, the US military is preparing options for further escalation, including potential strikes on Venezuelan soil, for Trump’s review.

This 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 US covert operations in Latin America

Guatemala, 1954

In one of its earliest Cold War-era interventions, the CIA backed a coup to overthrow Guatemala’s democratically elected president, Jacobo Árbenz, according to an NYT report. The Eisenhower administration framed the operation as a necessary stand against communism.

However, CIA files later revealed that the agency had drawn up assassination lists and trained exiles for the mission. Árbenz had antagonised powerful American interests, notably the United Fruit Company, by implementing land reforms that threatened its holdings.

The coup plunged Guatemala into a decades-long civil war, which claimed an estimated 150,000 lives, mostly at the hands of government forces.

Cuba, 1961

Following Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, the CIA planned and executed the infamous Bay of Pigs invasion, NYT 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 later CIA report criticized the agency’s lack of understanding and preparation, noting that few involved spoke Spanish and calling the organizational structure “bizarre.”

Assassination plots

The CIA made at least eight attempts to assassinate Castro, according to a 1975 Senate Intelligence Committee report. These included poisoning cigars, contaminating a diving suit with tuberculosis, and using explosive seashells. One plan involved working with organized crime figures to deliver poison pills to agents in Cuba.

Dominican Republic, 1961

According to NYT, the agency supplied weapons to those who assassinated dictator Rafael Trujillo. That same decade, CIA operatives also played a role in capturing revolutionary Che Guevara in Bolivia in 1967. Guevara was later executed by Bolivian troops.

Chile, 1970s

When Socialist Salvador Allende became Chile’s president in 1970, the Nixon administration viewed his government as a threat. The CIA undertook a variety of covert actions to destabilise his rule, 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.” While direct US involvement in the 1973 coup that deposed Allende remains unproven, the CIA had laid the groundwork for unrest. Allende died during the military assault on the presidential palace, and General Augusto Pinochet soon established a repressive dictatorship lasting 16 years.

The Trump administration’s covert push in Venezuela, if confirmed, represents a continuation of a controversial legacy of American intervention in Latin America. With both the CIA and US military reportedly preparing for potential action, the situation raises concerns about the region’s stability — and whether history may be repeating itself.