CIA source inside Venezuelan government helped track Maduro
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It is not clear how the CIA recruited the Venezuelan source who informed the Americans of Mr Maduro’s location.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Julian E. Barnes
NEW YORK - A CIA source within the Venezuelan government monitored the location of Mr Nicolas Maduro in the days and moments before his capture by US Special Operations forces, according to people briefed on the operation.
The US spy agency, the people said, produced the intelligence that led to the capture of Mr Maduro,
It is not clear how the CIA recruited the Venezuelan source who informed the Americans of Mr Maduro’s location.
But former officials said the agency was clearly aided by the US$50 million ($64.28 million) reward the US government offered for information leading to Mr Maduro’s capture.
In his confirmation hearing in 2024, Mr John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, promised he would lead a more aggressive agency, one willing to conduct covert operations to both collect information and advance US policy.
US President Donald Trump authorised the CIA to take more aggressive action last autumn, and then in November approved planning and preparation for a series of operations in Venezuela.
In late December, the CIA used an armed drone to conduct a strike on a dock that US officials believed was being used by a Venezuelan gang to load drugs on to boats.
One of the people briefed on Mr Maduro’s capture said it was the product of a deep partnership between the agency and the military and involved “months of meticulous planning.”
A senior US official said that the CIA and Special Operations analysts had Mr Maduro “wired” – meaning precisely located – from early on in the planning of the operation.
While the CIA played a critical role in planning and carrying it out, the mission was a law enforcement operation by the US military’s Special Operations forces, rather than an operation carried out under the agency’s authority. NYTIMES
