WASHINGTON — The day after Christmas is usually quiet in the nation's capital. But President Trump's decision to acknowledge a covert U.S. strike on Venezuelan soil in an interview with a little-known local news outlet on Friday sparked a row in sleepy Washington that has become the president's signature move.
Officials working on Latin America policy in an administration that has been closely monitoring reports of refinery fires and other curious developments across Venezuela could not immediately understand what the president was talking about, three sources familiar with the matter told The Times.
Trump later detailed that the strike targeted “a dock where boats are loaded with drugs.” But the initial confusion within his own government showed how narrow a circle within the West Wing is deciding whether to climb the escalation ladder to war with Caracas.
Trump initially confirmed that he had authorized CIA activities in Venezuela during a call with reporters in October. Although the administration is required to report to Congress about CIA covert operations, the use of military force requires greater congressional authorization.
“I actually authorized this for two reasons. One, they emptied their prisons in the United States of America,” Trump said at the time. “And one more thing: drugs, we get a lot of drugs coming from Venezuela, and a lot of Venezuelan drugs come by sea.”
The strike comes as Venezuelan authorities increase the number of U.S. citizens in custody, the New York Times first reported Friday. Early in the Trump administration, Caracas released 17 Americans and permanent residents held in notorious Venezuelan prisons.
Evan Ellis, who in Trump's first term worked to plan the State Department's Latin American, Caribbean and international counternarcotics policies, said it was “not clear whether the original plan for this operation was intended to be publicly announced in the President's interview.” Venezuelan dictator President Nicolas Maduro “was of course puzzled by this,” he said.
“It would make sense for them to do something like this rather than a military strike, especially now that there is a fine line between military operations and other things,” Ellis added. “I believe – to the extent that the president has acknowledged this – that they were the ones who were executing their mission to shape the battlespace in support of broader national goals.”
But Trump has the full scope of these goals has yet to be formulatedleading observers to question whether regime change in Venezuela is his true and ultimate goal.
Trump has repeatedly told the media that Maduro's days in power are numbered. The administration calls him and his regime an illegal narco-state terrorizing American communities. On a bipartisan basis, beginning in Trump's first term and continuing throughout the Biden administration, the United States has recognized the democratic opposition in Venezuela as its legitimate government.
But a military war on the drug trade makes little sense against Venezuela, where only a small portion of the illegal drugs smuggled into the United States originate. In recent weeks, Trump has hinted at other motives behind his calculations.
Over the past four months, the Trump administration has gradually escalated its pressure campaign against Maduro, first targeting suspected drug vessels and drug smugglers in international waters and then announcing blockade of Venezuelan oil tankers. As a result, oil exports from Venezuela have fallen by half over the past month.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Finance also imposed sanctions against four companies that he said either worked in the Venezuelan oil sector or escorted oil tankers.
“The Maduro regime increasingly relies on a shadow fleet of vessels around the world to facilitate sanctioned activities, including sanctions evasion, and to generate revenue from its destabilizing operations,” the agency said in a statement. “Today’s actions once again signal that those involved in the Venezuelan oil trade continue to face significant sanctions risks.”
The Pentagon, meanwhile, has stationed nearly a quarter of the U.S. Navy in the Caribbean since the summer, forming what Trump called a “massive armada” without precedent in the region.
Although Venezuela's current oil production is modest, the country has the world's largest known oil reserves, providing significant potential access to any future strategic partners. China is now the largest importer of Venezuelan oil, and at least one tanker hit by a US blockade has sought protection from Moscow, Maduro's main military ally.
Speaking to reporters about the blockade, Trump said he had spoken with top U.S. oil executives about what the Venezuelan market would look like when Maduro is no longer in power. And he suggested the US government would keep all captured barrels, reminiscent of Trump's campaign throughout the 2010s to ensure the United States controlled Iraq's oil fields as spoils of its war there.
“We're going to keep it“Maybe we'll sell it,” Trump said last week of the 1.9 million barrels of Venezuelan oil on the first tanker seized. “Maybe we'll sell it. Maybe we'll keep it. Maybe we'll use it for strategic reserves. We'll keep it.”
“We also preserve ships,” he added.
