CIA quietly building permanent U.S. footprint in Venezuela

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is quietly laying the groundwork for a sustained U.S. presence and intelligence infrastructure inside Venezuela as part of the Trump administration’s efforts in the country after the capture of former President Nicolás Maduro, CNN reported Tuesday.

Behind the scenes, officials from the CIA and the State Department have been discussing what America’s footprint inside Venezuela should look like in both the immediate aftermath of Maduro’s removal and over the long term, the outlet reported. While the State Department is expected to serve as the official diplomatic face of the U.S. in Venezuela, sources told the outlet that the intelligence agency will be relied upon heavily in the early stages of the country’s political transition.

“State plants the flag but CIA is really the influence,” one source familiar with the planning process told CNN, noting the agency’s near-term mission includes preparing the groundwork for formal diplomacy, providing security and cultivating relationships with key power brokers.

CIA involvement in Venezuela predates Maduro’s Jan. 3 capture. In August, a covert team was inserted to monitor Maduro’s movements and routines, which proved critical to the operation that led to his capture.

Moreover, the administration’s decision to back Maduro’s then-vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, rather than opposition leader María Corina Machado, was also influenced by a classified CIA assessment analyzing the political consequences of Maduro’s removal. The assessment, briefed to President Donald Trump, concluded that top figures within Maduro’s regime would be best positioned to maintain short-term stability in the immediate aftermath of the dictator’s removal, according to The Wall Street Journal.

With Maduro out of power, the CIA is shifting its focus to projecting U.S. influence from within Venezuela and evaluating the performance of the new leadership.

In the initial phase, U.S. personnel may operate out of a CIA annex rather than an official embassy to initiate informal contact with figures across Venezuela’s political spectrum, including members of the transitional government and opposition factions, according to CNN.

“Setting up an annex is priority number one. Before diplomatic channels the annex can help set up liaison channels, that will be with the Venezuelan intelligence and that will allow conversations that diplomats cannot have,” said a former U.S. government official who previously worked with Venezuelan counterparts.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe was the first senior Trump administration official to travel to Venezuela following the operation that captured Maduro, holding meetings in early January with Rodríguez — now the interim president — and senior military leaders. The CIA is expected to brief Venezuelan officials on intelligence related to threats posed by China, Russia, and Iran, a source familiar with the planning told CNN.

“If you are going to brief Venezuela on concerns about China, Russia, and Iran it would not be the State Department doing that. DNI (Office of the Director of National Intelligence) would have to decide what to declassify to share, and then intelligence agents would do the briefing,” one former official told the outlet.

Despite Trump’s assertion that the U.S. would “run” the country until a “judicious” transition could take place, long-term plans remain uncertain, including the timeline for reopening the U.S. embassy in Caracas. The State Department withdrew all diplomatic personnel from the embassy in Caracas in 2019, operating instead through the Venezuela Affairs Unit based in Bogotá.

The CIA did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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