NYT: Maduro “Angrily Rejected” Turkey Exile Deal Before Risky CIA Raid

New revelations from The New York Times have exposed the diplomatic failure that triggered the historic U.S. raid on Venezuela, disclosing that Nicolás Maduro was offered a last-minute exit ramp to Turkey just days before his capture. According to a U.S. official speaking to the paper, American negotiators presented the Venezuelan leader with a deal on December 23 to leave the country peacefully. Maduro reportedly “angrily rejected the plan,” a decision that sealed his fate and greenlit the military option.
The Times report details how the subsequent operation was the culmination of a months-long shadow war, describing it as the “riskiest operation since the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.” While the world watched the diplomatic standoff, the CIA had already compromised the highest levels of the Venezuelan state.
Inside the CIA’s Shadow Campaign:
* August Infiltration: A covert team of CIA operatives successfully infiltrated Venezuela in August 2025. For months, these agents moved freely around Caracas without detection, building the operational framework for the strike.
* Total Surveillance: The Agency’s tracking of Maduro was absolute. Operatives monitored his daily routes, habits, and even granular details such as his dietary preferences and the specific pets he kept.
* Inner Circle Betrayal: The intelligence picture was completed by a key informant within Maduro’s inner circle, whose data was corroborated by advanced “stealth drones” loitering over the capital.
This deep intelligence penetration allowed U.S. forces to strike when the target was most vulnerable. The pre-dawn raid on Saturday caught Maduro completely off guard; he was fast asleep next to his wife, Cilia Flores, when Delta Force operators breached his residence.
President Trump has hailed the mission as a total success, framing it as a necessary act of law enforcement against a “cartel boss.” However, the operation—executed on foreign soil against a sitting head of state—has ignited a global firestorm regarding its legality and the geopolitical consequences of such a brazen projection of power.