CIA conducts drone strike on Venezuelan coastal port
Sources familiar with the operation said the incident represents the first known US strike against a target inside Venezuela. The attack reportedly focused on a secluded dock facility that US authorities believed was being used by the Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua to store narcotics and transfer them onto boats for further transport.
According to the sources, the site was unoccupied at the time of the strike, and no casualties were reported. They added that US Special Operations Forces assisted the mission by providing intelligence support.
Comments made last week by President Donald Trump appeared to reference the operation, though he did not identify the location or target.
“We just knocked out — I don’t know if you read or you saw — they have a big plant, or a big facility, where the ships come from. Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard,” he said.
Trump later offered additional remarks while speaking to reporters before a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. When asked for clarification, he said “there was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs” and that an “implementation area” was “no longer around.”
The president declined to identify which US agency carried out the strike, stating only that he knew who was responsible but did not wish to disclose it. Asked separately whether he had recently spoken with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Trump said he had spoken with him “pretty recently,” but added that “nothing much” resulted from the conversation.
The reported strike comes amid an expansion of US military activity in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific Ocean since September, framed by Washington as part of its campaign against drug trafficking. These operations coincide with broader pressure on Venezuela, including oil tanker blockades, vessel seizures, and an increased US military presence near Venezuelan waters. Venezuelan authorities have condemned these actions, describing them as “international piracy.”
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