Venezuela claims to have captured 'CIA backed cell plotting false flag attack' as tensions with US grow
Source: The Independent
Tuesday 28 October 2025 05:48 EDT
Venezuela claims to have foiled a CIA-financed cell plotting a false-flag attack on an American warship, in what the government alleges is a cynical ploy to spark a ‘full military confrontation’.
Interior minister Diosdado Cabello said that a cell ‘financed by the CIA’ planned to attack the USS Gravely and pin the blame on Caracas, after the missile destroyer docked in Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday to conduct joint exercises with Trinidad's navy.
Venezuela said that it had captured a group of mercenaries "with direct information of the American intelligence agency" and whose goal it was to carry out a false-flag attack in the region. Cabello said four people had been arrested, without providing details.
A false flag attack is an operation carried out in such a way as to look like a different party was responsible.
Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/venezuela-maduro-cia-false-flag-gravely-trinidad-b2853501.html
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refers to a naval confrontation in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam, which led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War. On 2 August 1964 there was a clash between a destroyer of the United States Navy that was collecting signals intelligence close to North Vietnamese waters, and three North Vietnamese naval vessels. On the night of 4 August, two US destroyers reported they were attacked by North Vietnamese vessels and that they were returning fire. Later investigation revealed that the 4 August attack did not happen; no Vietnamese vessels had been present. Shortly after the events, the National Security Agency, an agency of the US Defense Department, deliberately skewed intelligence to create the impression that an attack had been carried out.[5][6][7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident
