# The Caracas checklist > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "The Caracas checklist," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-caracas-checklist/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The sequence of steps John Kiriakou says an operation to overthrow the Venezuelan government would run through, pressure Maduro into flight, secure the presidential palace, co-opt or bombard the military, take the television and radio stations, hold the main intersections of the capital, and his insistence that none of it is the hard part.* - **First:** Pressure Maduro to run away - **Second:** Secure the presidential palace, whether or not he is in it - **Third:** Co-opt the military, or bombard it if it cannot be co-opted - **Fourth:** Take the television and radio stations, at least in Caracas - **Fifth:** Take the main intersections of the capital - **Executed by:** Joint CIA and special forces operations, since 9/11 **The Caracas checklist** is the answer [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) gave to a viewer who asked what the [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) would have had him do in Venezuela, an itemised account of what a regime-change operation consists of, followed by his standing objection to the whole enterprise. ## The involvement He began by refusing to hedge on the premise. *"first of all, the CIA is 100% yes involved in whatever it is that our government is doing right now in Venezuela."*[1] ## The steps The first is psychological. *"what you need to do is operationally put pressure on Maduro to to just run away. You want Maduro to run away."* The plan reported in the press, he notes, was to make him think he could, which is why *"we now know that the CIA tried to recruit his private pilot"* so that a flight to Havana would land instead in Key West.[1] Told that such a trick would mean no future target of American regime change could believe anything Washington promised, Kiriakou agreed: *"That's exactly right."*[2] The rest is physical, and he numbered it himself. *"you have to secure the the presidential palace whether Maduro is in it or not. Um number number two, you have to um either co-opt the military or bombard the military if they can't be co-opted. Uh number three, you have to take control of the television and radio stations, at least the ones in Caracus."*[2] Then: *"you have to take over the the main intersections of the capital."*[3] Asked whether these are CIA or military tasks, he answered that the distinction has largely lapsed: *"It would be it would be joint operations … Since 9/11, most of these kinds of operations would be joint with special forces."*[3] ## The objection The checklist exists in Kiriakou's telling mainly to be dismissed. *"like I've said in the past … overthrowing the government is the easy part."* When his interlocutor supplied the other half, *"It's governing"*, Kiriakou finished it: *"It's governing that's the hard part. What do you do the next day?"*[3][4] He endorsed two further measures put to him, cyber attacks on Venezuelan internet infrastructure and shutting the banking wire system so that regime officials could not move money abroad, with *"Exactly right."*[4] ## See also - [Maduro Capture](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/maduro-capture) - [Juan Guaidó](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/juan-guaido) - [Elliott Abrams](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/elliott-abrams) - [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) - [The Stratfor Cables On Venezuela](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-stratfor-cables-on-venezuela) ## Sources 1. John Kiriakou on CIA Coup Tactics, Trump's WMD, New MI6 Chief (2025-12-17), at 00:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WIKj6XP27w&t=31s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-17-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-john-kiriakou-on-cia-coup-tactics-trump-s-wmd/ 2. John Kiriakou on CIA Coup Tactics, Trump's WMD, New MI6 Chief (2025-12-17), at 01:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WIKj6XP27w&t=63s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-17-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-john-kiriakou-on-cia-coup-tactics-trump-s-wmd/ 3. John Kiriakou on CIA Coup Tactics, Trump's WMD, New MI6 Chief (2025-12-17), at 01:34. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WIKj6XP27w&t=94s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-17-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-john-kiriakou-on-cia-coup-tactics-trump-s-wmd/ 4. John Kiriakou on CIA Coup Tactics, Trump's WMD, New MI6 Chief (2025-12-17), at 02:04. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WIKj6XP27w&t=124s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-17-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-john-kiriakou-on-cia-coup-tactics-trump-s-wmd/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. 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