Venezuela Says It Nabbed CIA Agents As US Warships Mass In Caribbean

The government of Venezuela’s socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro claimed in a Sunday statement that it captured an alleged “mercenary group” with “direct information” from the CIA.

The statement from Maduro’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez accused the alleged group of planning a “false flag operation” from around nearby Trinidad and Tobago and accused the small island nation of performing ongoing “military exercises” under “the coordination, financing and control of the United States Southern Command.” The claim came days after the Trump administration’s Department of War authorized the deployment of the world’s largest aircraft carrier to Latin American waters to target drug cartels.

“Venezuela reports that it has captured a mercenary group with direct information from the U.S. intelligence agency, CIA, being able to determine that a false flag attack is underway from waters bordering Trinidad and Tobago, or from Trinidad or Venezuelan territory itself, which generates a complete military confrontation against our country,” Rodríguez said in the statement, originally in Spanish. (RELATED: Trump Reportedly Authorizes CIA To Use Covert Action In Venezuela)

The Venezuelan vice president went on to compare the alleged “planned action” to the sinking of the USS Maine in 1898 and the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964 — both widely believed to have been misrepresented — which led, respectively, to the U.S. declaring war on Spain and to the escalation of the Vietnam War.

“Venezuela does not accept threats from any U.S. vassal government, We are not intimidated by military exercises of war cries,” Rodríguez’s statement added.

Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez speaks during a meeting with accredited diplomatic representatives in Caracas on September 29, 2025. (Photo by JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images)

The Pentagon announced Friday that it had deployed the Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to waters in the vicinity of South America as an effort to counter transnational cartel activity. The vessel has the capacity of carrying up to 90 aircraft and was, at the time of the announcement, in Mediterranean waters near Croatia, according to BBC.

Maduro claimed to state media that the U.S.’ actions amounted to “fabricating a new eternal war,” following the Pentagon’s move, BBC reported.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Friday morning  on X that his department, at President Donald Trump’s request the night before, “carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO), trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea.”

“If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat Al-Qaeda. Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you,” Hegseth added in his X post.

Overnight, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO), trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea.

The vessel was known by our… pic.twitter.com/lVlw0FLBv4

— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 24, 2025

“Tren De Aragua, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization from Venezuela, operating under the direct control of the Venezuelan regime, has waged a campaign of rape, torture and murder against Americans, and its members are designated as Alien Enemies of the United States,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller wrote Friday on the platform in reply to Hegseth. (RELATED: Venezuela In The Trump Administration’s Crosshairs: Will War Follow?)

Trump told reporters at the White House Oct. 17 that Maduro “offered everything” to the U.S. in an unsuccessful attempt to get the American government to end its action against drug boats off Venezuela’s coast. The president was referring to the Maduro regime’s offer to the Trump administration of a significant stake in the South American nation’s vast oil and natural resources.

“You know why? Because he [Maduro] doesn’t want to fuck around with the United States,” Trump added.

The U.S. president’s administration rejected the offer — with Trump calling on Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions Richard Grenell to end all diplomatic outreach to Venezuela, Reuters reported Oct. 6.

A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll conducted in early October found that the vast majority — 71% — of American voters support sinking ships from South America that carry drugs into the United States.

The CIA did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment. Staff at the Department of War, meanwhile, said they had nothing to provide.

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