Report: CIA Tracked Maduro for Days Before Trump Ordered Capture

New details have emerged regarding the stunning capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, revealing that the operation was the climax of a high-stakes intelligence dragnet orchestrated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). According to reports from CNN, CIA operatives had identified Maduro’s specific location and were monitoring his “every movement” for several days prior to the strike, providing real-time data that ultimately greenlit the mission.
Sources familiar with the operation state that the intelligence breakthrough occurred earlier this week when Agency assets on the ground in Caracas successfully infiltrated the Venezuelan leader’s security bubble. This deep-cover surveillance allowed the U.S. to track Maduro’s transit between safe houses and military bunkers, eventually pinpointing his position at the Fuerte Tiuna military complex.
Upon receiving confirmation of the “high-value target’s” vulnerability, President Donald Trump reportedly issued the classified order for Maduro’s detention “several days ago.” This timeline suggests that the massive airstrikes launched early Saturday morning—which decimated Venezuelan air defenses and naval assets—were a carefully synchronized prelude designed to clear a path for the extraction team, identified by defense officials as members of the elite Army Delta Force.
The CIA’s role was critical in navigating the dense urban terrain of Caracas. Operatives reportedly fed live coordinates to the tactical teams, ensuring they could bypass loyalist roadblocks and secure the target before the Bolivarian National Guard could mobilize a counter-attack. This level of granular intelligence underscores the depth of U.S. penetration into the Venezuelan security apparatus, a vulnerability that analysts say has likely left the remaining regime leadership in a state of paranoia and disarray.
The operation, which Trump confirmed was conducted “in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement,” relied heavily on the 2020 federal indictment charging Maduro with narco-terrorism. By framing the capture as a law enforcement action supported by military power, the administration effectively treated the Venezuelan president as a fugitive drug lord rather than a sovereign head of state.
As Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are flown to an undisclosed location to face justice, the revelation of the CIA’s deep involvement serves as a stark warning to other U.S. adversaries. It demonstrates a capability to reach inside hostile capitals and extract leadership figures, erasing the traditional lines of sovereign immunity. With the “head of the snake” now in U.S. custody, the focus shifts to the power vacuum left behind in Miraflores and the inevitable scramble for control among Venezuela’s splintered military factions.