President Trump has confirmed reports that he authorised the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela, citing the drug trade as one of the reasons behind the move. Venezuela plays a relatively minor role in the region's drug trade, but Trump's comments come after recent strikes on boats suspected of carrying drugs in the Caribbean. It is "highly unusual" for a US president to discuss operations from an intelligence agency whose activities are typically covert, writes Bernd Debusmann Jr from the White House. Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela's contested leader, has appealed for peace with the US. “No to regime change”, he said in an address on Wednesday night. "No to CIA-orchestrated coups d'état."

Javier Milei's boisterous brand of small-state conservatism has won him the praise of President Trump and, until recently, the assent of financial markets. But the Argentine president's "fat-trimming" policies have divided the nation and will be tested in next week's midterm elections, writes South America correspondent Ione Wells.