PDB Situation Report | January 10th, 2026: Former CIA Caracas Chief Explains What's Next For Venezuela & Iran’s Regime On The Brink
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to the PDB Situation Report. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage, and it is a fascinating world stage at the moment. All right, let's get briefed. First up, less than a week ago, U.S. Special Forces, working alongside the CIA, carried out a highly coordinated operation to remove Nicolas Maduro from power and bring him to the U.S. to face federal charges. The mission followed months of intelligence preparation, surveillance, and focused on speed and surprise and precision, avoiding a broader military confrontation. Now, attention is turning to what comes next. That's the big question. The stability of Venezuela, the fate of its security services and military, and how rival powers respond to a sudden vacuum in Caracas.
for insight on the operation and its implications. Let me bring in Rick De La Torre, a retired CIA operations officer and former chief of station in Caracas. Rick, thank you very much, man, for joining us here on The Situation Report. Good to see you, brother. Let's start with a really sort of 30,000-foot question. What do you make of what's happening in Venezuela? You like that? See how specific that is? Yeah, yeah. So much to work with there. I think ultimately, we're certainly heading in the right direction, right? You, as everyone knows, a lot of times we are far more ahead of the curve than policymakers are.
What happened during the U.S. operation to remove Nicolás Maduro from power?
For years, we have been tracking the illicit drug sales, the criminal behavior. like human rights violations coming out of Venezuela. And it's only been recently that we've actually been able to get an administration that not only understood the issues properly, but also had the courage to act on it. And that's ultimately what we're seeing play out now. You know, I regret now not staying in just, you know, a year or two longer and being back in that helm, right? You know, we tend to have that looking back fondly moment and we kind of wish we were there. But I'm really happy with the little I contributed because if you look at the special operations officers, the rest of everyone back at headquarters in the main building and all the great work that they've done and the folks working in the field, it really warms my heart that for the first time in a long time that people of Venezuela are going to have an opportunity to get their democracy back, to get themselves realigned again with the rest of the world.
Now, not to get into too much granular detail, but how long were you on the ground for in Caracas? I think on that one, my engagement in Caracas was a little unique, right? Because by that time, the embassy had been closed. So we were working in different sectors from different locations, but still overseeing and managing the operations and activities within that country. And certainly continuing to engage the Maduro regime wherever we had to, whenever we were requested by headquarters. Let me ask you, hey, since you brought him up, Maduro, I mean, let's talk about him. He's been in the news. Yeah. What is your... What is your assessment of the past week or so? I mean, I think clearly there was that moment.
Maduro's been captured, right? And I think a lot of people, their minds went to, well, that's fantastic. Now we've got a whole new day. It's going to be a new government.
What are the implications for Venezuela's stability post-Maduro?
There's democracy and stability and huzzah. And then in fairly short order, it's like, okay, now we've got Delcy Rodriguez, the VP. Now she's the president. Cabello's there. We've got all the same cats. So is this more of just a reshuffling of the deck chairs? Or do you think this pretends an actual transition and change that means a better future for Venezuelan people, better ties with the U.S.? How do you assess all of this? That's a great question. And it's one that at first, it took me a little while to kind of understand it. And I spoke with some friends over at State Department. In fact, earlier today, I had lunch with one of them. And I also spoke with a retired three-star Marine general who just recently retired out of the soft comp spaces.
And the way they explained it to me, and it made sense then to me that it's like, look,
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:12–1:36
2
What happened during the U.S. operation to remove Nicolás Maduro from power?
1:36–3:44
3
What are the implications for Venezuela's stability post-Maduro?
3:44–4:42
4
What insights does Rick de la Torre provide about the CIA's involvement?
4:42–11:44
5
How are protests in Iran evolving from economic grievances to regime defiance?
11:44–13:06
6
What does Behnam Ben Taleblu say about the Iranian regime's response to protests?
13:06–13:54
7
What are the potential outcomes for Iran following the current protests?
13:54–21:04
8
What lessons can be drawn from Venezuela's situation for Iran's future?
21:04–53:02
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