PALM BEACH, Fla. — The United States hit and destroyed a docking area used by alleged Venezuelan drug boats, President Donald Trump said, in what could amount to the first land strike of his administration’s anti-trafficking campaign in Latin America.
“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “So, we hit all the boats and now we hit the area, it’s the implementation area, that’s where they implement. And that is no longer around.”
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Trump offered no details on the location of the strike. But sources familiar with the operation told CNN and the New York Times the CIA carried out a drone strike on a port facility, believed to be used by the Venezuelan criminal group known as Tren de Aragua. No one was present at the time of the operation and no casualties were reported, the outlets said.
The Venezuelan government has not commented. The Pentagon referred questions to the White House, which did not respond to requests for comment from AFP.
Trump’s remarks appeared to confirm for the first time a strike on land tied to the broader maritime campaign he launched in recent months. In a radio interview broadcast last week with WABC host John Catsimatidis, Trump hinted at such an operation, saying, “Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So, we hit them very hard.”
Asked Monday if he had spoken recently with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump said the two had talked “pretty recently” but that “nothing much comes out of it.” The administration has escalated pressure on Maduro, accusing him of running a drug cartel and seeking to choke off his revenues, including with measures affecting oil shipments.
Since September, U.S. forces have carried out numerous strikes in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific targeting what Washington says are drug-smuggling boats. The administration has not publicly provided evidence that the boats struck were engaged in trafficking, prompting debate over the legality of the operations. International law experts and human rights groups have said the strikes likely amount to extrajudicial killings — an allegation U.S. officials deny.
Shortly after Trump spoke, the U.S. military said on social media it had conducted another strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific, killing two people. The announcement brought the death toll from the maritime campaign to at least 107. The military did not specify the exact location of the latest action.
Details about the alleged port strike remain scarce, including when it occurred and which agency or command oversaw it. Trump said only that “we hit the area” where boats are loaded, framing the action as part of a wider effort to disrupt transnational criminal networks he has repeatedly linked to Maduro’s government.
Venezuelan officials, who have long accused Washington of seeking regime change, did not immediately respond to the latest U.S. claims. Independent verification of the strike on a dock facility was not available.
As the campaign expands from open-water interdictions to what appears to be a strike on infrastructure ashore, questions over legal authorities, transparency and the risk of escalation are likely to intensify. For now, the administration is pressing its case that hitting boats — and the places that load them — is central to choking off the drug trade it says is anchored in Venezuela.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
