U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed Wednesday that he authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela.
Asked by a reporter why he authorized the CIA to go into Venezuela during a press conference in the White House, Trump said that "they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America" and that "we have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela."
Trump declined to answer when he was asked if the CIA had authority to "take out" Venezuelan authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro, who the U.S. says is involved in international drug trafficking. "Wouldn't it be ridiculous for me to answer," Trump said.
The president went on to say that his administration was considering a crackdown on anti-drug operations on land in addition to the attacks the U.S. military has been conducting on boats suspected of carrying drugs in the Caribbean.
"A lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea, so you get to see that, but we're going to stop them by land also," Trump said.
In recent weeks, the U.S. military has repeatedly fired on boats of suspected drug smugglers in the Caribbean. More than 20 people are said to have been killed in these actions.
The actions have drawn widespread criticism, partly because the U.S. government initially failed to give a legal basis for the strikes.
The United Nations, earlier in October, called on the U.S. government to exercise restraint.
U.S. media recently reported that Trump has determined that the U.S. is in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels and that smugglers for the cartels are "unlawful combatants."
The Trump administration has declared the drug cartels to be terrorist organizations.
