Venezuela announced Monday that it had dismantled a “criminal cell” linked to the CIA, after a recent operation aimed, according to Caracas, at “justifying aggression” by the United States, whose military presence in the region continues with new bomber flights.
This “cell” would have sought to attack the American ship USS Gravelydocked in Trinidad and Tobago for military exercises with the aim of incriminating Caracas, said Foreign Minister Yvan Gil, at a time when the Trump government is at loggerheads with the power of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Yvan Gil said in a statement that he had informed Trinidad and Tobago of a “false flag operation”, a day after Venezuela announced the arrest of “a group of mercenaries” linked to the US intelligence agency.
Caracas believes that the presence ofUSS Gravely is a “provocation” that could lead to “war”.
“On our territory, a criminal cell financed by the CIA and linked to this clandestine operation is being dismantled,” said Yvan Gil, assuring that the cell wanted to “accuse Venezuela, in order to justify an aggression against our country”.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello then clarified during a press conference that at least four people had been arrested.
US President Donald Trump has approved clandestine CIA operations in Venezuela and is considering ground strikes, in operations billed as a campaign to combat drug trafficking in the Caribbean.
In this context, two B-1B bombers flew over the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela on Monday, according to the specialist site Flightradar24. This is the third such show of force by the US military in recent weeks.
“War for oil”
It comes after a similar flight by at least one B-1B last week and another by several B-52 bombers the week before.
Since the beginning of September, the United States has been carrying out air strikes, mainly in Caribbean waters, against boats presented as those of drug traffickers described as “terrorists”.
So far, Washington has claimed ten strikes. They killed at least 43 people, according to a count by Agence France-Presse (AFP) based on figures from the American government, which did not provide evidence of a link between the targeted boats and drug trafficking.
The legality of the military operations carried out by the Trump administration is widely doubted by experts.
Washington has deployed seven warships in the Caribbean and one in the Gulf of Mexico, officially as part of an operation against drug trafficking, particularly targeting Venezuela and its President Nicolas Maduro.
President Trump also announced the upcoming arrival of the world’s largest aircraft carrier.
L’USS Gravely arrived in Port-of-Spain on Sunday and will remain there until Thursday for joint exercises with Trinidadian forces.
In response, President Maduro announced on Monday the suspension of gas agreements with Trinidad and Tobago, “in the face of the threat from the Prime Minister [trinidadienne Kamla Persad-Bissessar] to transform Trinidad and Tobago into an aircraft carrier for the American empire against Venezuela”
In statements by telephone message to AFP, Mme Persad-Bissessar assured that his country will not give in to “any blackmail from the Venezuelans” and will “not give up on the fight against drug cartels […] Our future does not depend on Venezuela and never has depended on it.”
She also announced during a television program that the state of emergency established since July to deal with gang violence will be extended. The archipelago, renowned for its carnival and its beaches, emerged in mid-April from a state of emergency declared in December 2024 due to violence.
Despite the oil embargo against Venezuela, the United States gave the green light to Trinidad and Tobago at the beginning of October for the exploitation of the important Dragon gas field, estimated at 120 billion m3located in the northeast of Venezuelan waters, near the maritime border with Trinidad and Tobago and Trinidadian deposits.
Nicolas Maduro, who refutes accusations of drug trafficking, criticized the United States on Friday for “inventing an eternal war”. “They promised never to go to war again and they are inventing a war that we are going to avoid,” he denounced.
