U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed yesterday, Wednesday, that he had authorized secret and potentially lethal CIA operations in Venezuela, adding that he is “considering” ordering ground strikes by the U.S. military in the Latin American country — signaling a dramatic escalation of Washington’s pressure campaign to force President Nicolás Maduro and his government from power.

Caracas reacted by calling the Republican’s statements a violation of international law and an attempt to legitimize a “regime change” operation aimed at seizing the country’s oil wealth.

“Our permanent mission to the United Nations will express our protest over this to the Security Council and to the Secretary-General tomorrow (i.e. today, Thursday), demanding accountability from the U.S. government,” Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil said via Telegram.

According to information from The New York Times, which cited U.S. officials familiar with the matter, a classified Trump administration document authorizes secret CIA operations in Venezuela and the wider Caribbean, with the goal of toppling Nicolás Maduro.

Washington accuses the Venezuelan president and his government of running drug-trafficking cartels that target the U.S. market. Earlier this year, it doubled the reward for information leading to Maduro’s capture to $50 million. Caracas has categorically denied these allegations.

Asked why he authorized CIA operations in Venezuela, Donald Trump cited illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

“For two reasons,” the Republican said. “First, they emptied their prisons into the U.S.,” he claimed, alleging that prisoners were “sent across the border” because “we had open borders.” “And the other thing is drugs,” he added.

He provided no evidence for the claim that Caracas is sending former inmates to the United States.

Trump went on to say he is “considering” launching ground strikes against drug traffickers inside Venezuela. “I don’t want to say more, but we’re looking at the ground right now because we already control the sea very well,” he said.

On Tuesday, the U.S. announced that six alleged drug traffickers were killed in a new American missile strike against a vessel off the Venezuelan coast — at least the fifth known strike since early September. At least 27 people have been killed in these strikes, according to U.S. government reports.

The legality of these operations — conducted in foreign or international waters without arrests or interrogations — has raised questions and sparked controversy.

In Caracas, President Maduro condemned what he called “coups orchestrated by the CIA.”

“No to war in the Caribbean (…) No to regime change, which reminds us of the endless failed wars in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq (…) No to the coups instigated by the CIA,” Maduro declared, noting that since early September, Washington has deployed a fleet of eight warships — including amphibious assault ships carrying Marines — and a nuclear-powered submarine off Venezuela’s coast, as well as advanced fighter jets in Puerto Rico, officially as part of a counter-narcotics operation.

The CIA has a long history of secret operations in Latin America, particularly during the Cold War.

Maduro recalled the coups that left “30,000 disappeared in Argentina,” and, referring to Augusto Pinochet’s coup in Chile, “5,000 young people murdered or disappeared,” adding: “How much longer will CIA coups continue? Latin America doesn’t want them, doesn’t need them, and rejects them.”

In response to the deployment of U.S. forces — which it views as a “military threat” — Caracas is conducting military exercises with its own armed forces and has mobilized its reserves. For President Maduro, Washington is using the fight against drug trafficking as a pretext to impose “regime change” in order to seize Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, among the largest in the world.

When asked directly if he had ordered the “neutralization” of Maduro, Trump avoided a clear answer: “That’s a ridiculous question. Not really ridiculous (…), but wouldn’t it be ridiculous for me to answer it?”