CIA involvement in catching Maduro and bringing him to New York / It has been “wired” for a long time

For at least a month, the United States has had access to the live location of Nicolas Maduro, the president of Venezuela, through a method not disclosed by the Americans.

The CIA had a small team on the ground since August that was able to obtain information about Maduro's habits, which facilitated his capture, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Two other sources told Reuters that the intelligence agency also had an informant close to Maduro who was monitoring his movements and was prepared to pinpoint his exact location as the operation unfolded.

According to one of the sources, Trump's senior adviser Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe formed a core team that worked on the operation for months, holding regular, sometimes daily, meetings and phone calls. Many times, they also met with the president.

The CIA also used a fleet of 'stealth' drones

The New York Times also reports that a CIA source in the Venezuelan government monitored Nicolás Maduro's location both in the days and in the moments before his capture by US special forces, according to people briefed on the operation.

The US spy agency, the people said, produced the intelligence that led to Maduro's capture by monitoring his position and movements with a fleet of “stealth” drones that provided near-constant surveillance of Venezuela, in addition to information provided by his Venezuelan sources.

And CIA agents operating clandestinely in Venezuela since August have gathered intelligence on Maduro's “lifestyle” and movements.

The newspaper said it was unclear how the CIA recruited the Venezuelan source who tipped off the Americans about Maduro's location, but former officials said the agency was clearly helped by a $50 million reward offered by the US government for information leading to his capture.

One of the people briefed on Maduro's capture said it was the result of a close partnership between the agency and the military and involved “months of meticulous planning.” A senior U.S. official said the CIA and special operations analysts had “spotted” Maduro — that is, pinpointed him — from the beginning of planning for the operation.

Although the CIA played a key role in planning and conducting the operation, the mission was a law enforcement operation conducted by US Army Special Forces, and not an operation conducted under agency authority.