In the final year of President Donald Trump’s first administration, the CIA carried out a clandestine cyberattack against the Venezuelan government, disabling the computer network used by Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro’s intelligence service.

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.

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,

President Donald Trump has confirmed that he authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela.

Will Donald Trump really order an attack on Venezuela? Sky News explains what's behind his increasingly hostile rhetoric - and what may happen next.

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