In this video, I interview David Fitzgerald, the CIA’s former Latin America Chief of Operations.
He later became the agency’s Deputy for Latin America and also worked with U.S. Central Command, representing the CIA in Tier 1 operations. That includes Delta Force operators, who captured Nicolas Maduro and his wife early Saturday at Fort Tiuna military base in Caracas.
Dozens of Cuban officers were killed and dozens more were injured in Operation Absolute Resolve. David described why Maduro relied on Cuban security forces — it wasn’t just a vestige of the Hugo Chavez days. “[Maduro] trusted them more than he did his own people,” David told me.
I asked him if the U.S. would be trying to extract the CIA source who shared intelligence on Maduro’s location, or whether that person needs to stay put while Maduro’s inner circle remains in power.
“By all means, I’m sure it’s going to be a major counterintelligence investigation, probably led by the Cubans because they have skin in the game now with the loss of their officers,” said David, now the president and founder of business strategy and training firm Vector One Global. “They’re going to start either a manhunt or a witch hunt, however you want to call it.”
He described the CIA’s historical priorities in Venezuela. Think Russia, China, Cuba, and Iran. He also said it is not unusual for CIA lawyers to push back on an administration requests, as the agency has on Venezuela/Western hemisphere matters.
David described how special operations necessitate that planners account for every possibility, all the ways that things can go wrong. “You plan for the worst, but hope for the best. And what really struck me on this [operation to seize Maduro] was not only the coordination between U.S. military and special forces and the intelligence community… but the fact that it appeared everything went to plan.”
Much more in the video. And the second part of our conversation — on U.S. adversaries operating in Venezuela, intelligence failure accusations in Latin America, and the future of Caracas — will be available tomorrow for paid subscribers.
