U.S. President Donald Trump takes on drug trafficking and transnational gangs. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Italy. Nicolás Maduro wanted poster, courtesy of the U.S. Department of State.
“Maduro doesn’t want to f— around with the United States.” — President Donald J. Trump
In August, the U.S. Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs placed a $50 million bounty on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Moros, and it now appears the CIA may be the one to collect it. President Donald Trump has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela as part of his intensified anti-drug campaign. Venezuela is the country of origin of the gang Tren de Aragua, which the U.S. government has designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
The campaign has already seen the U.S. military strike at least five boats in the Caribbean suspected of trafficking narcotics, killing 27 cartel members. To further tighten the crackdown, Trump has deployed eight warships, a nuclear-powered submarine, and fighter jets to the region.
Nicolás Maduro effectively stole Venezuela’s election last year, extending a presidency widely deemed illegitimate by foreign observers. The crisis traces back to 2019, when President Trump recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate president after Maduro’s disputed second-term inauguration.
The move triggered a rapid diplomatic breakdown. Maduro accused Washington of backing a coup, cut diplomatic ties, closed Venezuela’s embassy and consulates in the U.S., and expelled American personnel. Within hours, the U.S. ordered its nonessential diplomats to leave, and by March, all embassy operations in Caracas were suspended.
Throughout Trump’s first term, the administration imposed waves of sanctions against Maduro’s regime. In 2020, the Justice Department charged him with “narco-terrorism” and placed a $15 million bounty on his arrest.
Then–National Security Adviser John Bolton warned that “all options,” including military force, were on the table. Now–Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the chief architect of Trump’s Venezuela policy, consistently condemned the Maduro regime, calling it a “transnational criminal group.”
As a senator in 2019, Rubio argued that Washington’s actions were not about “regime change,” but about countering the national security threats posed by drug trafficking and Russian and Iranian influence in the region.
When asked why he was authorizing the CIA to operate in Venezuela, President Trump gave two reasons. First, he claimed that Nicolás Maduro had emptied Venezuela’s prisons into the United States.
His second reason was the drug trade. “We have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela,” Trump said. “A lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea, so you get to see that, but we’re going to stop them by land also.”
According to U.S. intelligence, Maduro is tied to a drug-trafficking network known as the Cartel de los Soles (“Cartel of the Suns”), which includes senior Venezuelan military and security officials. The U.S. government has formally accused the regime of using state institutions to facilitate international cocaine shipments.
In March 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Maduro and 14 current and former Venezuelan officials with narco-terrorism, drug trafficking, and corruption. The indictment alleged that they conspired with Colombia’s FARC guerrillas to use cocaine “as a weapon” to flood the U.S. market.
As with any steps trump takes to reduce crime or secure the US borders, Critics have accused President Trump of overstepping his authority in authorizing CIA covert operations in Venezuela. They argue that U.S. law requires a formal presidential finding before any covert action can proceed. However, under 50 U.S. Code § 3093, the president has broad discretion to determine what constitutes such a finding and what specific actions are necessary to protect national security.
Under this statute, the president may not authorize covert action unless he issues a written determination that it supports identifiable U.S. foreign policy objectives and is vital to national security. The finding must specify the agencies involved, identify any third-party participants, and comply with U.S. law and the Constitution.
Normally, the document must be prepared before operations begin, though in urgent cases the president has 48 hours to issue it. The intelligence committees in Congress must be informed as soon as possible, and any significant operational changes must also be reported.
President Trump has publicly confirmed that he authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, meaning the authorization itself is not secret. However, the specific written presidential finding authorizing these actions has not been released—something that is entirely normal. Under 50 U.S.C. § 3093, such findings are classified and submitted only to congressional intelligence committees, not the public, except in rare cases when they are declassified decades later.
Although it remains unclear whether all congressional notification requirements have been completed, the strong institutional alignment within the administration makes it unlikely that proper procedures were ignored. The Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and State, along with the DEA, have all backed the president’s position that Nicolás Maduro leads a narco-terrorist state that threatens U.S. national security.
Political support within Washington has been overwhelming. Speaker Mike Johnson, Vice President J.D. Vance, and other senior Republican leaders have endorsed the president’s approach as part of a broader anti-narcotics and national security strategy. Only a small minority of liberal Democrats and civil-liberties advocates have voiced objections, questioning the scope of executive power and oversight in the operation.
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