America’s most clandestine CIA division known as ‘Ground Branch’ paved the way for Special Forces operatives to launch an assault on Nicolas Maduro’s stronghold in Venezuela, as uncovered by The Mirror.
The Ground Branch unit, operating under the CIA Special Activities Centre, was deployed to Caracas as early as August to surveil Maduro’s activities. They clandestinely identified entry points for Army Delta Force units and compiled detailed profiles on Maduro and his security detail to lead the mission, enduring intense pressure as they evaded Caracas security forces.
The team meticulously tracked Maduro’s movements, assessed structural details like wall thickness and bulletproof windows, and strategized the movements of his security team. Amid escalating tensions in Caracas and a naval presence off the coast hinting at potential invasion, they operated discreetly from safe houses.
In a dramatic Saturday operation, Maduro, along with his wife Cilia Flores, was apprehended in a mission involving 150 warplanes and 11 ships, leading to their subsequent arraignment in a New York court on narco-terrorism charges.
The Ground Branch operatives, comprising highly skilled individuals from Army Delta Force and Navy SEAL backgrounds, represent one of the US government’s most covert black ops units. Simultaneously, while Ground Branch operatives were active in Caracas, other CIA agents were gathering intelligence from defectors within the Maduro regime to further their mission.
This operation marked one of Ground Branch’s most perilous undertakings, relying on defectors, sources, and meticulous planning to remain undetected. The covert operation, designated as a “black op,” operated with plausible deniability, emphasizing the riskiness of the mission.
Recruitment for Ground Branch involves rigorous vetting of operatives, often sourced from special forces backgrounds and trained extensively in espionage tactics, source recruitment, and stealth operations. The unit was established to fulfill the need for a paramilitary group capable of executing sabotage, intelligence gathering, and targeted missions in hostile territories.
With a history rooted in the failures of past operations like the 1980 Operation Eagle Claw, Ground Branch stands as a highly specialized unit comprising skilled assassins, saboteurs, and mission planners, ensuring the US government’s ability to conduct covert operations effectively.
In comparison, the UK’s closest equivalent to Ground Branch is the SAS ‘E Squadron,’ which collaborates closely with MI6.