President Donald Trump has said the US has carried out a strike on a 'dock area' linked to alleged Venezuelan drug boats. Speaking to reporters in Florida on Monday, Trump stated there had been a 'major explosion' last week where 'they load the boats up with drugs'. He did not provide specifics on the dock's location, nor confirm if the US military or CIA were involved.
The Venezuelan government has yet to respond, and it is unclear whether the strike occurred within Venezuelan territory. Since September, the US has executed strikes on what it claims are drug-smuggling boats, targeting over 20 vessels, primarily from Venezuela, in both the Pacific and Caribbean Sea, resulting in at least 100 fatalities.
The latest strike occurred on Monday, with US Southern Command announcing in a social media post that two 'narco-terrorists' were killed during a 'lethal kinetic strike' in the eastern Pacific. Trump has previously suggested land strikes in Venezuela and authorized covert CIA operations against President Nicolás Maduro's government as part of a broader pressure campaign. When questioned about the involvement of the CIA, Trump stated, 'I don't want to say that. I know exactly who it was, but I don't want to say who it was.'
Trump elaborated, '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.' This is not the first time he has alluded to a destructive operation; he had mentioned an operation against a 'big facility' in a prior radio interview.
The Pentagon has not provided comments regarding this specific strike and has referred inquiries to the White House, which has not yet issued a statement. Historical strikes by the US against alleged drug boats have typically been accompanied by images and videos. However, no such materials have yet emerged regarding this latest dock incident.
The Trump administration argues that strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific target terrorists attempting to send illegal drugs to the US by sea. The US has dispatched 15,000 troops with a range of naval assets to the Caribbean, marking the largest deployment in the area since the 1989 invasion of Panama. This operation aims to intercept the flow of fentanyl and cocaine into the US, with notable assets including the USS Gerald Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, involved in the recent seizure of an oil tanker off Venezuela.
Venezuela has been accused of using its oil revenues to finance drug-related crime, while it contends that US actions are acts of 'piracy'. President Maduro has refuted claims that he leads a drug cartel, suggesting the US employs its 'war on drugs' as a pretext to destabilize his government and seize Venezuela's oil reserves. In a recent interview, Trump acknowledged that the goal of such seizures could be to forcibly remove Maduro from power.
The Venezuelan government has yet to respond, and it is unclear whether the strike occurred within Venezuelan territory. Since September, the US has executed strikes on what it claims are drug-smuggling boats, targeting over 20 vessels, primarily from Venezuela, in both the Pacific and Caribbean Sea, resulting in at least 100 fatalities.
The latest strike occurred on Monday, with US Southern Command announcing in a social media post that two 'narco-terrorists' were killed during a 'lethal kinetic strike' in the eastern Pacific. Trump has previously suggested land strikes in Venezuela and authorized covert CIA operations against President Nicolás Maduro's government as part of a broader pressure campaign. When questioned about the involvement of the CIA, Trump stated, 'I don't want to say that. I know exactly who it was, but I don't want to say who it was.'
Trump elaborated, '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.' This is not the first time he has alluded to a destructive operation; he had mentioned an operation against a 'big facility' in a prior radio interview.
The Pentagon has not provided comments regarding this specific strike and has referred inquiries to the White House, which has not yet issued a statement. Historical strikes by the US against alleged drug boats have typically been accompanied by images and videos. However, no such materials have yet emerged regarding this latest dock incident.
The Trump administration argues that strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific target terrorists attempting to send illegal drugs to the US by sea. The US has dispatched 15,000 troops with a range of naval assets to the Caribbean, marking the largest deployment in the area since the 1989 invasion of Panama. This operation aims to intercept the flow of fentanyl and cocaine into the US, with notable assets including the USS Gerald Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, involved in the recent seizure of an oil tanker off Venezuela.
Venezuela has been accused of using its oil revenues to finance drug-related crime, while it contends that US actions are acts of 'piracy'. President Maduro has refuted claims that he leads a drug cartel, suggesting the US employs its 'war on drugs' as a pretext to destabilize his government and seize Venezuela's oil reserves. In a recent interview, Trump acknowledged that the goal of such seizures could be to forcibly remove Maduro from power.
