By Euronews
Published on
US President Donald Trump said Monday the US struck a shore facility where boats allegedly used for drug smuggling “load up,” but provided limited details about the operation.
Trump appeared to confirm the strike during what seemed an impromptu radio interview on Friday. When reporters asked him Monday about “an explosion in Venezuela,” he said the US targeted a facility where drug-trafficking boats operate.
“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump said while meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida.
“They load the boats up with drugs, so we hit all the boats and now we hit the area. It’s the implementation area. There’s where they implement. And that is no longer around.”
Trump declined to specify whether the US military or CIA carried out the dock strike, or confirm its location. “I know exactly who it was, but I don’t want to say who it was. But you know it was along the shore,” he said.
The strike marks an escalation in Trump administration efforts to target suspected drug-smuggling vessels. US military operations previously focused on boats in international waters of the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.
The US military conducted another strike Monday against an alleged narcoboat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people. The operations have killed at least 107 people across 30 strikes since early September, according to Trump administration figures.
‘We hit them very hard’
Trump first mentioned the strike Friday during a call to radio host John Catsimatidis on WABC radio whilst discussing US strikes on suspected drug-carrying boats.
“I don’t know if you read or saw, they have a big plant or a big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from,” Trump said. “Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So, we hit them very hard.”
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and US military social media accounts have typically announced previous boat strikes on X, but no such announcement has been made about a facility strike.
The Pentagon referred questions to the White House on Monday. The White House press office did not immediately respond to requests for details. Venezuela’s government did not comment.
Trump has suggested for months he may conduct land strikes in South America, potentially in Venezuela or other countries. In recent weeks he said the US would move beyond boat strikes to land operations “soon”.
In October, Trump confirmed authorising CIA covert operations in Venezuela.
Alongside the strikes, the US has deployed warships, increased regional military forces, seized two oil tankers and pursued a third.
The Trump administration said it is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels, seeking to halt narcotics flows into the US.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro maintains that the actual purpose of US military operations is to force him from power.
Additional sources • AP