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US President Donald Trump has indicated that the United States has “hit” a port off the coast as it mounts a campaign of pressure on Venezuela, but offered few details.
Trump initially appeared to confirm the attack in what appeared to be an impromptu radio interview on Friday, and when questioned by reporters on Monday about the “explosion in Venezuela”, he said the US had hit a facility where “loading” ships accused of transporting drugs.
“There was a big explosion in the dock area where they load the ships with drugs,” Trump said in Florida when he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “They fill the ships with drugs, so we hit all the ships and now we hit the area. That’s the implementation area. Where they implement. And that’s gone.”
It’s part of an escalating effort to target what the Trump administration says are ships smuggling drugs to the United States. It comes close to the coastal strikes that the military has so far carried out in international waters in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean.
CNN, citing sources, reported Monday that the CIA carried out a drone strike earlier this month on a port facility on the coast of Venezuela.
The strike targeted a remote port that the US believed was being used by the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang to store drugs and transfer them to ships for onward transport, according to CNN.
The US military said it carried out another attack on a ship accused of drug smuggling in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Monday, killing two people. The attacks have killed at least 107 people in 30 attacks since early September, according to figures released by the Trump administration.
Trump declined to say whether the US military or the CIA carried out the attack, when or where it happened. He did not confirm that it happened in Venezuela.
I know exactly who it was, but I don’t want to say who it was. But you know it was along the coast,” Trump said.
Trump first mentioned the strike on Friday, when he called radio host John Catsimatidis during a program on WABC radio and discussed US strikes on alleged drug vessels.
“I don’t know if you’ve read or seen, they have a big plant or a big facility where they send, you know, where the ships come from,” Trump said. “Two nights ago, we threw that out. So we hit them hard.”
Trump did not offer any additional details in the interview.
In recent weeks, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or one of the U.S. military’s social media accounts usually posted each ship strike in a post on X. But there was no announcement about the attack on the facility.
What is the end result of President Donald Trump’s repeated US attacks on ships near Venezuela? Andrew Chang breaks down the threats the Trump administration says it’s responding to and why Venezuela’s relationship with China could also be a factor. Images provided by Getty Images, The Canadian Press and Reuters.
The Pentagon referred questions to the White House on Monday, which did not immediately respond to a message seeking more details. The Venezuelan government’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s statement.
Trump has suggested for months that he might launch ground attacks in South America, Venezuela or perhaps another country, and in recent weeks has been saying the US will move beyond attacks on ships and launch a land attack “soon”.
Military strengthening
In October, Trump confirmed that he had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela. The agency did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Monday.
Along with the strikes, the US has sent warships, built up military forces in the region, seized two oil tankers and pursued a third.
The Trump administration has said it is in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and is trying to stop the flow of narcotics into the United States.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has insisted that the real purpose of the US military operations is to oust him from power.
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said in an interview with Vanity Fair published this month that Trump “wants to keep raising ships until Maduro ‘cries uncle.'”
