President Donald Trump said the United States had struck a “dock site” linked to alleged Venezuelan drug boats.
The US president said there was a “massive explosion” that “loaded drugs onto a boat” but gave no further details or the location of the dock. The Venezuelan government has yet to respond.
CNN and the New York Times, citing sources familiar with the matter, said the explosion was caused by a CIA drone strike. If confirmed, this would be the first known incident of U.S. operations in Venezuela.
President Trump has previously threatened ground attacks on Venezuela and approved secret CIA action as part of a pressure campaign against President Nicolas Maduro.
There was no official comment from Venezuela on Trump’s remarks, and while there was speculation on social media, there were no reports of a strike in Venezuelan state media.
Reporters asked Trump on Monday whether the CIA had carried out the attack, and Trump said, “I don’t want to say that. I know exactly who it was, but I don’t want to say who it was.”
This is the second time that President Trump has mentioned the explosion. In a radio interview last week, he described U.S. operations against “large installations” but provided limited details.
The U.S. ground strike would significantly increase the pressure the Trump administration has placed on Maduro, who the U.S. has accused of leading a “narco-terrorist” organization, an accusation the Venezuelan president denies.
Since September, the United States has targeted ships in the Pacific and Caribbean, conducting 30 attacks on drug-smuggling vessels, killing more than 100 people.
The most recent attack took place on Monday, with the U.S. Southern Command saying in a social media post that two “narco-terrorists” were killed in a “deadly kinetic attack” in the eastern Pacific.
But the United States did not provide any evidence to support its claim that the ships it attacked were carrying drugs.
Except for two survivors (a Colombian and an Ecuadorian), the identities of the passengers have not been released.
In Monday’s speech, Trump provided few details about the alleged ground attack, but appeared to signal that he had reached a new stage in his pressure campaign against Venezuela.
“We’ve hit all the boats and now we’ve hit that area. That’s the implementation area. That’s where they’re implementing and they’re not around anymore,” he said, without clarifying which area he was talking about.
The Department of Defense referred questions from BBC News to the White House. The White House has not yet commented.
When the US has previously carried out strikes against alleged drug boats, including on Monday, the Pentagon has posted images and videos on social media to confirm the strikes. As of now, no images of the dock incident have been shared.
The Trump administration has described the attacks on ships in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific as attacks on terrorists trying to bring fentanyl and cocaine to the United States.
However, fentanyl is produced primarily in Mexico and reaches the United States almost exclusively by land via the southern border.
Drug enforcement experts also note that Venezuela plays a relatively small role in global drug trafficking.
It primarily serves as a transit country through which drugs produced elsewhere are smuggled into the country.
Washington has not only attacked ships suspected of carrying drugs, but has also deployed a large military force to the Caribbean and ordered a naval blockade of sanctioned tankers traveling in and out of Venezuela.
The Trump administration has accused Venezuela of using oil revenues to finance drug-related crimes and designated Maduro’s government a “foreign terrorist organization” (FTO).
In recent weeks, U.S. forces have seized two oil tankers and pursued a third vessel.
Maduro’s government, which has long accused the United States of wanting to steal the South American country’s oil wealth (Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves), called the seizure “an act of piracy.”
Nicolás Maduro also accused the United States of using the ‘war on drugs’ as an excuse to oust him.
Asked last week whether the purpose of the seizures was to remove Maduro from power, Trump responded: “Well, I think it probably will… That’s what he wants to do. I think it would be wise for him to do that. But again, we’ll find out.”
