United States President Donald Trump has confirmed that the U.S. destroyed a docking facility allegedly used by Venezuelan drug traffickers, in what is believed to be the first land-based strike in Washington’s intensified campaign against narcotics trafficking from Latin America.
Trump disclosed this on Monday while speaking with reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to the U.S. president, the targeted dock was a key facility where boats suspected of transporting illegal drugs were loaded.
“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump said.
He added that the operation also involved hitting several boats and disabling what he described as the “implementation area” used for the trafficking activities.
“So we hit all the boats, and now we hit the area. That area is no longer around,” he stated.
Trump, however, declined to disclose whether the operation was carried out by the U.S. military or the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), nor did he specify the exact location of the strike, saying only that it occurred “along the shore.”
Meanwhile, sources familiar with the operation told U.S. media outlets, including CNN and The New York Times, that the CIA carried out a drone strike on a port facility in Venezuela.
The reports suggested that the strike was aimed at the Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua, although no individuals were present at the time of the attack and no casualties were recorded.
As of the time of filing this report, the Venezuelan government had not issued any official reaction to the incident.
Earlier, the U.S. Department of Defense referred all inquiries on the matter to the White House, while the White House declined to respond to requests for comment from international media.
When asked if he had recently spoken with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Trump said the two leaders had spoken “pretty recently,” but added that the discussions produced no significant outcome.
Trump’s confirmation followed remarks he made during a radio interview broadcast on Friday, where he hinted for the first time at a possible land strike against drug trafficking facilities in the region.
“They have a big plant or a big facility where the ships come from,” Trump said during the interview. “Two nights ago, we knocked that out.”
The U.S. president has repeatedly warned in recent weeks that ground strikes against drug cartels in the region would begin “soon,” making this incident the first apparent example.
In a related development, the U.S. military announced on social media that it carried out another strike on a suspected drug-smuggling boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing two persons and bringing the reported death toll in the ongoing maritime campaign to at least 107.
The military did not disclose the precise location of the latest strike.
The Trump administration has continued to pile pressure on the Maduro-led government, accusing the Venezuelan leader of involvement in drug trafficking and enforcing measures such as an oil tanker blockade.
International law experts and human rights groups have raised concerns over the legality of the U.S. strikes, describing them as potential extrajudicial killings, an allegation the U.S. government has consistently denied.