Earlier this month, Donald Trump confirmed that he authorized the CIA to carry out covert operations in the country.

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,

Venezuela on Sunday condemned what it said was a military provocation by neighboring Trinidad and Tobago in coordination with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, aimed at spurring a full military confrontation with the Latin American nation.

Two U.S. B-1B bombers flew near Venezuela’s coast Monday, marking Washington’s third show of force in the Caribbean in three weeks. The U.S. claims the flights are part of an anti-drug operation, but President Nicolás Maduro accuses Washington of staging “false flag” provocations and plotting regime change.

Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Yan Gil Pinto has claimed that a fake attack on the US warship the USS Gravely currently docked in Trinidadian waters may be incoming as part of a “false flag” operation the Venezuelan government alleges is being carried out by the US.

A US agent tried to bribe Nicolás Maduro's pilot to divert his plane for capture, part of a 16-month covert operation that ultimately failed to topple the leader. View on euronews