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,

Tensions in the Caribbean spiked after Venezuela announced that its security forces had captured what it described as a “mercenary group” allegedly connected to the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Venezuela suspends all gas deals with Trinidad and Tobago as Maduro accuses the U.S. and CIA of plotting war in the Caribbean, following the arrival of U.S. Marines for military drills. In a fiery address,

The CIA’s 1961 Bay of Pigs operation, designed to topple Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, was a notorious fiasco that embarrassed the new president, John F. Kennedy. It also led Castro to agree to the stationing of Soviet nuclear missiles on his soil to protect his regime from further attacks, resulting in the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

Venezuela claimed Monday to have dismantled a CIA-financed cell plotting a false-flag attack on a US warship deployed to the southern Caribbean, as Washington stepped up pressure on Caracas by flying bombers nearby.

Venezuelan president condemns US aggression as Trump confirms he authorised the CIA to operate in Venezuela and considers strikes against alleged drug cartels.