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US President Donald Trump has indicated that the United States has “struck” a naval base off the coast as it conducts a pressure campaign against Venezuela, but gave few details.
Trump initially appeared to confirm the strike in what appeared to be an impromptu radio interview on Friday, and when asked by reporters on Monday about the “explosion in Venezuela,” he said the United States had struck a facility where suspected drug-carrying boats “fill up.”
“There was a big explosion at the dock where they load the drugs onto the boats,” Trump said during a meeting in Florida with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “They’re loading the boats with drugs, so we’ve hit all the boats and now we’re hitting the place. It’s the place of initiation. That’s where they use it. And it’s not there anymore.”
It’s part of a growing effort to target what the Trump administration says are drug-trafficking boats bound for the United States. It comes close to the coastal strikes that have been carried out by the military so far in international waters in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean.
CNN, citing sources, reported Monday that the CIA conducted a drone strike earlier this month on a port facility on the Venezuelan coast.
The strike was aimed at a shipping facility that the US believed was being used by the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang to store drugs and transfer them to boats to continue their journey, according to CNN.
The U.S. military said it carried out another strike Monday on a suspected drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people. The attacks have killed at least 107 people in 30 strikes 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 strike on the detention center or where it took place. 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 on the coast,” Trump said.
Trump spoke for the first time about the strike on Friday, when he called host John Catsimatidis during a program on WABC radio and discussed US strikes on suspected drug boats.
“I don’t know if you read or see, they have a big plant or a big place where they ship, you know, where the ships come from,” Trump said. “Two nights ago, we took that out. So, we hit them hard.”
Trump did not provide further details on the interview.
In recent weeks, the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth or one of the US military’s communications accounts has announced every submarine strike sent to X. But there was no strike at the station.
Tensions between the United States and Venezuela are escalating as the US continues to attack suspected Venezuelan drug-trafficking boats and signals that they may launch ground attacks. Andrew Chang breaks down the geographic, logistical and political challenges involved in resolving conflict to this extent. Photos provided by The Canadian Press, Reuters and Getty Images
The Pentagon on Monday referred questions to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a message seeking more information. The Venezuelan government’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s statement.
Trump has been suggesting for months that he might carry out global strikes on South America, Venezuela or another country, and in recent weeks he has been saying that the US will go beyond strike boats and will strike the world “soon”.
Military formation
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 on Monday.
Along with the strikes, the US sent warships, built up troops in the region, seized two oil tankers and then a third.
The Trump administration says it is in an “arms race” with drug cartels and wants to stop the flow of drugs into the United States.
The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, has insisted that the real purpose of the US military is to force him from power.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in an interview with Vanity Fair published this month that Trump “wants to keep blowing up boats until Maduro ‘cries uncle.’
