Trump claims US hit ‘major facility’ linked to alleged Venezuelan drug boats

Donald Trump said the United States carried out a strike on a “dock area” linked to alleged Venezuelan drug boats.

The US president said there was a “major explosion” in which “they loaded the boats with drugs”, but did not give further details or the location of the dock. The Venezuelan government has not yet responded.

The explosion was caused by a drone strike carried out by the CIA, CNN and the New York Times said, citing sources familiar with the matter. If confirmed, it would be the first known U.S. operation in Venezuela.

Since September, the United States has launched strikes against what it considers drug trafficking boats, targeting more than 20 vessels in the Pacific and Caribbean, killing at least 100 people.

The most recent strike took place on Monday, with the US Southern Command saying in a social media post that two “narcoterrorists” had been killed in a “deadly kinetic strike” in the Eastern Pacific.

Trump has previously threatened to launch ground strikes in Venezuela and authorize covert CIA action in the country, as part of a pressure campaign on President Nicolas Maduro.

On Monday, Trump was asked by reporters whether the CIA carried out the attack, and he responded, “I don’t want to say that. I know exactly who it was, but I don’t want to say who it was.”

“We’ve hit all boats, and now we’re hitting the zone…that’s the implementation zone. That’s where they’re implementing, and that’s not there anymore,” he said of the strike.

Trump’s comments are the second time he has brought up the explosion. In a radio interview last week, Trump described a U.S. operation against a “major facility,” but he provided few details.

The Pentagon referred questions from BBC News to the White House. The White House has not yet commented.

When the United States has previously carried out strikes against suspected drug boats – including Monday’s – the Pentagon has released images and videos on social media to confirm the strikes. So far, no images of the dock incident have been shared.

The Trump administration has described strikes on ships in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, primarily from Venezuela, as attacks on terrorists trying to smuggle deadly and illegal drugs into the United States by boat.

The United States has deployed 15,000 troops and a range of aircraft carriers, guided-missile destroyers and amphibious assault ships to the Caribbean.

The stated goal of the deployment — the largest in the region since the U.S.-led invasion of Panama in 1989 — is to stop the flow of fentanyl and cocaine into the United States.

Among the ships is the USS Gerald Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier. American helicopters would have taken off before the American forces. seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on December 10.

The Trump administration has accused Venezuela of using oil revenues to finance drug crime. Venezuela has called the seizures “piracy.”

Maduro has denied American claims that he was a cartel leader and accused the United States of using its “war on drugs” as a pretext to try to remove him and get its hands on Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

Last week, Trump was asked if the aim of the seizures was to force Maduro from power. Trump responded: “Well, I think it probably would be… It’s up to him what he wants to do. I think it would be smart for him to do it. But again, we’ll figure it out.”