 "First known US land strike in Venezuela? Trump confirms hit on drug boat loading facility")
US President Donald Trump on Monday said the US had “hit” an area in Venezuela where boats are loaded with drugs, marking the first known land operation in the country since a pressure campaign began against President Nicolás Maduro.
“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump told reporters in Florida. He did not provide details on the dock’s location, timing, or whether the US military or CIA were involved.
Venezuela’s government has not responded, and it remains unclear if the strike occurred within Venezuelan territory.
US drug-smuggling operations
Since September, the US has carried out strikes on what it says are drug-smuggling boats, targeting more than 20 vessels, many from Venezuela, in the Pacific and Caribbean, killing at least 100 people. On Monday, the US Southern Command said in a social media post that two “narco-terrorists” were killed in a “lethal kinetic strike” in the eastern Pacific.
Trump has previously threatened land strikes in Venezuela and authorised covert CIA operations against Maduro. Asked if the CIA carried out Monday’s strike, he said, “I don’t want to say that. I know exactly who it was, but I don’t want to say who it was.”
“We hit all the boats, and now we hit the area… it’s the implementation area. That’s where they implement, and that is no longer around,” Trump added.
Last week, Trump mentioned a US operation against a “big facility” in Venezuela but offered few details. The Pentagon referred questions about the strike to the White House, which has yet to comment.
For previous strikes on alleged drug boats, the Pentagon has published images and videos on social media, but no visual evidence of the dock strike has been released so far.
Quick Reads
View AllThe US has deployed 15,000 troops and a range of aircraft carriers, guided-missile destroyers, and amphibious assault ships to the Caribbean—the largest deployment to the region since the 1989 invasion of Panama. The operation aims to stop the flow of fentanyl and cocaine to the US. Among the ships is the USS Gerald Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier. US helicopters reportedly took off from it before US forces seized an oil tanker off Venezuela on 10 December.
Venezuela’s response
The Trump administration has accused Venezuela of using oil revenues to fund drug-related crime, while Caracas condemned the seizures as “piracy”. Maduro has denied US claims that he is a cartel leader, accusing Washington of using the “war on drugs” as an excuse to try to overthrow him and seize Venezuela’s oil reserves.
CNN, citing sources, reported that earlier this month the CIA carried out a drone strike on a port facility on Venezuela’s coast. The strike targeted a remote dock that the US believed was used by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to store drugs and transport them onto boats.
On a radio show last week, Trump hinted at the operation, describing it as against a “big facility” in Venezuela. When asked whether the goal of the strikes was to remove Maduro from power, Trump said, “Well, I think it probably would… That’s up to him what he wants to do. I think it’d be smart for him to do that. But again, we’re gonna find out.”
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