US President Donald Trump said the United States has carried out its first land strike in Venezuela on Monday. He said US forces hit a dock facility used to load boats allegedly carrying drugs, escalating Washington’s pressure campaign against President Nicolas Maduro.
Trump made the remarks after first hinting at the operation during a radio interview last week and then expanding on them on Monday while meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida.
“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump said. “They load the boats up with drugs, so we hit all the boats and now we hit the area. It’s the implementation area. And that is no longer around.”
The comments mark the first indication that US operations have moved onto Venezuelan soil since the Trump administration launched an aggressive campaign against drug trafficking networks. Until now, US strikes had focused on boats in international waters in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.
Trump declined to say whether the US military or the CIA carried out the strike, or to confirm that it took place inside Venezuela. “I know exactly who it was, but I don’t want to say who it was,” he said. “But you know it was along the shore.”
According to the news agency Associated Press, Trump first cited the alleged strike on Friday during a call-in interview with radio host John Catsimatidis on WABC, saying a key facility used by drug traffickers had been destroyed. “Two nights ago, we knocked that out,” he said. “So, we hit them very hard.”
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