WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The day after Christmas is typically quiet in the nation\u2019s capital. But President Trump\u2019s decision to acknowledge a covert U.S. strike on Venezuelan territory, in an interview with an obscure local news outlet on Friday, set off a scramble in a drowsy Washington that has become a hallmark of the president.<\/p>\n
Officials working on Latin America policy for the administration that had been closely tracking reports of refinery fires and other curious events throughout Venezuela couldn\u2019t immediately figure out which target the president was talking about, three sources familiar with the matter told The Times.<\/p>\n
Trump would later detail that the strike targeted a \u201cdock area where they load the boats up with drugs.\u201d But initial confusion from within his own government signaled just how tight a circle within the West Wing is determining whether to climb the escalation ladder toward war with Caracas.<\/p>\n
Trump initially confirmed he had authorized CIA actions in Venezuela in an exchange with reporters on October. While the administration is obligated to report covert CIA operations to Congress, more robust congressional authorization is required for the use of military force.<\/p>\n
\u201cI authorized for two reasons, really. No. 1, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America,\u201d Trump said at the time. \u201cAnd the other thing, the drugs, we have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela, and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea.\u201d<\/p>\n
The strike comes as Venezuelan authorities have increased the number of U.S. citizens detained in their custody, the New York Times first reported on Friday. Caracas had freed 17 Americans and permanent residents held in notorious Venezuelan prisons at the start of the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
Evan Ellis, who served in Trump\u2019s first term planning State Department policy on Latin America, the Caribbean and international narcotics, said it was \u201cunclear whether the initial plan was for this operation to be publicly announced in an interview by the president.\u201d Venezuela\u2019s dictatorial president, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, \u201cwas certainly confused about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would make sense for them to do something like that, rather then a military strike, especially right now when there\u2019s a delicate line between military operations and other things,\u201d Ellis added. \u201cMy sense is \u2014 to the extent the president has acknowledged it \u2014 that this was them carrying out their mission to shape the battlespace in support of broader national objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Trump has yet to articulate the full scope of those objectives<\/a>, leaving observers to wonder whether regime change in Venezuela is his true, ultimate aim. <\/p>\n Trump has repeatedly told the media that Maduro\u2019s days in power are numbered. The administration refers to him and his regime as an illegitimate narco-state terrorizing American communities. On a bipartisan basis, going back to Trump\u2019s first term and throughout the Biden administration, the United States has recognized a democratic opposition in Venezuela as its rightful government.<\/p>\n But a military war on the drug trade would make little sense targeting Venezuela, where only a fraction of illicit narcotics smuggled into the United States originate. Trump has hinted in recent weeks at other motives driving his calculus.<\/p>\n Over the last four months, the Trump administration slowly ramped up its pressure campaign on Maduro, first by targeting boats allegedly carrying narcotics and drug smugglers in international waters before announcing a blockade of Venezuelan oil tankers<\/a>. Venezuela\u2019s oil exports have consequently plummeted by half over the course of the last month.<\/p>\n