With the largest U.S. aircraft carrier now positioned in the Caribbean, U.S. President Donald Trump has approved additional measures to pressure Venezuela and prepare for the possibility of a broader military campaign, according to multiple people briefed on the matter.
Trump has signed off on CIA plans for covert measures inside Venezuela, operations that could be meant to prepare a battlefield for further action, these people said. At the same time, they said, he has authorized a new round of back-channel negotiations that at one point resulted in President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela offering to step down after a delay of a couple of years, a proposal the White House rejected.
It is not clear what the covert actions might be or when any of them could be carried out. Trump has not yet authorized combat forces on the ground in Venezuela, so the next phase of the administration’s escalating pressure campaign on the Maduro government could be sabotage or some sort of cyber, psychological or information operations.
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