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 about the location of the dock or whether the US military or CIA were involved.
The Venezuelan government has not yet responded, and it remains uncertain if the strike occurred inside Venezuelan territory. Since September, the US has conducted strikes on what it claims are drug-smuggling boats, targeting over 20 vessels, many originating from Venezuela, resulting in at least 100 fatalities. The most recent strike reportedly occurred on Monday, with US Southern Command indicating that two 'narco-terrorists' were killed in a 'lethal kinetic strike' in the eastern Pacific.
Trump has previously issued threats of land strikes in Venezuela and authorized covert CIA actions as part of a campaign against President Nicolás Maduro. When questioned by reporters if the CIA was involved in the recent attack, Trump replied, 'I don't want to say that. I know exactly who it was, but I don't want to say who it was.'
He emphasized, '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 isn't the first time Trump has alluded to the explosion. In a radio interview last week, he described a US operation against a 'big facility' but provided scant details. The Pentagon has referred inquiries regarding the incident to the White House, which has yet to issue a comment.
Typically, when the US has executed strikes on purported drug boats, the Pentagon has disseminated images and videos via social media to affirm the attacks. However, no footage from the dock incident has been shared thus far.
The Trump administration characterizes strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific as operations against terrorists attempting to transport illegal drugs to the US by boat. In a substantial deployment, 15,000 troops, along with various aircraft carriers and destroyers, have been sent to the Caribbean, representing the largest military presence in the region since the 1989 invasion of Panama. The objective of this deployment is to curb the influx of fentanyl and cocaine into the US, with the USS Gerald Ford, the largest aircraft carrier globally, leading the operation. Trump contends that the Venezuelan government utilizes oil revenues to sustain drug-related crimes while Maduro has rejected claims of being a drug cartel leader, alleging that the US misuses its 'war on drugs' as a pretext to destabilize his government and seize Venezuela's oil resources.
The Venezuelan government has not yet responded, and it remains uncertain if the strike occurred inside Venezuelan territory. Since September, the US has conducted strikes on what it claims are drug-smuggling boats, targeting over 20 vessels, many originating from Venezuela, resulting in at least 100 fatalities. The most recent strike reportedly occurred on Monday, with US Southern Command indicating that two 'narco-terrorists' were killed in a 'lethal kinetic strike' in the eastern Pacific.
Trump has previously issued threats of land strikes in Venezuela and authorized covert CIA actions as part of a campaign against President Nicolás Maduro. When questioned by reporters if the CIA was involved in the recent attack, Trump replied, 'I don't want to say that. I know exactly who it was, but I don't want to say who it was.'
He emphasized, '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 isn't the first time Trump has alluded to the explosion. In a radio interview last week, he described a US operation against a 'big facility' but provided scant details. The Pentagon has referred inquiries regarding the incident to the White House, which has yet to issue a comment.
Typically, when the US has executed strikes on purported drug boats, the Pentagon has disseminated images and videos via social media to affirm the attacks. However, no footage from the dock incident has been shared thus far.
The Trump administration characterizes strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific as operations against terrorists attempting to transport illegal drugs to the US by boat. In a substantial deployment, 15,000 troops, along with various aircraft carriers and destroyers, have been sent to the Caribbean, representing the largest military presence in the region since the 1989 invasion of Panama. The objective of this deployment is to curb the influx of fentanyl and cocaine into the US, with the USS Gerald Ford, the largest aircraft carrier globally, leading the operation. Trump contends that the Venezuelan government utilizes oil revenues to sustain drug-related crimes while Maduro has rejected claims of being a drug cartel leader, alleging that the US misuses its 'war on drugs' as a pretext to destabilize his government and seize Venezuela's oil resources.
