CIA launched drone strike on Venezuelan port

President Donald Trump confirmed that the CIA carried out a drone strike on a Venezuelan port facility last week, marking what appears to be the first known US land strike inside Venezuela as part of an escalating pressure campaign against the Maduro regime and drug trafficking networks.

Trump disclosed the operation during a Dec. 26 radio interview and later expanded on the strike during remarks at Mar-a-Lago ahead of his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. US officials believe the targeted dock was used by the Venezuelan transnational gang Tren de Aragua to store narcotics and stage shipments by sea.

According to reports, the strike hit a remote coastal dock that was empty at the time of the attack. No casualties were reported. Tren de Aragua is designated by the US government as a foreign terrorist organization.

“We just knocked out — I don’t know if you read or you saw — they have a big plant or big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from,” Trump said during the radio interview. “Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard.”

Speaking on Monday, Trump said the strike destroyed both vessels and infrastructure tied to drug trafficking activity. “We hit all the boats and now we hit the area, it’s the implementation area,” Trump said. “That’s where they implement. And that is no longer around.”

He added that there was a “major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” noting it occurred “along the shore.”

The CIA declined to comment on the operation, and the Venezuelan government has not issued a public response. Trump confirmed in October that he authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela.