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The Untold Story of Trump's Failed Attempt to Overthrow Venezuela's President
A successful CIA hack of Venezuela's military payroll system, insider fights for spy agency resources, and messy opposition politics: A WIRED investigation reveals a secret Trump-era attempt to oust autocratic ruler Nicolás Maduro.
The agency launched a covert influence campaign to spread pro-democracy content online in Venezuela, spun up a “democracy promotion” program to secretly sponsor leadership trainings, and provided support to Venezuelan civic groups, according to former US officials. It was “the most embarrassing bullshit ever,” says a former national security official—“not even sinister,” but “purely lazy.” To some Trump administration officials, the presence in Venezuela of a viable, legitimate opposition leader like Guaidó, and the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in the country, made the CIA’s covert “pro-democracy” campaign appear farcical. A pilot program spearheaded by the US Treasury Department, known as “Venezuela Day One,” was to involve the mass distribution of preloaded debit cards, from the Spanish banking powerhouse Banco Santander, which worked closely with the administration on the initiative.
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