Leaked memo shows that US anti-drug agency sent spies to target Venezuelan officials
THE United States sent undercover operatives into Venezuela to secretly record and build drug-trafficking cases against the country’s socialist leadership, a leaked memo has revealed.
“It is necessary to conduct this operation unilaterally and without notifying Venezuelan officials,” reads the 2018 memo on expanding Operation Money Badger, a US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation that authorities say targeted dozens of people, including Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
While there’s no clear mechanism to hold the US accountable legally, the revelation threatens to do further damage to already fraught relations between the US and Mr Maduro’s government and could deepen suspicion of Washington across Latin America.
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