U.S. Strike Reportedly Targets Drug-Loading Site in Venezuela, Trump Says

President Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States carried out an operation in Venezuela targeting an area where boats are allegedly loaded with drugs, marking what would be the first known U.S. land action in the country since Washington intensified pressure on President Nicolas Maduro’s government. Trump described a “major explosion in the dock area” and said the strike destroyed boats and the surrounding implementation zone, though he declined to specify which U.S. agency conducted the operation.

CNN, citing unnamed sources, reported that the CIA carried out a drone strike earlier this month on a remote coastal dock believed to be used by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to store narcotics and load them onto vessels for shipment. U.S. national security agencies, including the CIA, Pentagon and White House, have declined to comment, while the Venezuelan government has also not issued a response. A chemical plant in Zulia state, Primazol, denied social-media speculation that its recent fire was linked to the incident described by Trump.

The reported strike comes as the Trump administration steps up covert and military pressure on Maduro, following months of operations targeting suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. Reuters previously reported that covert actions were expected to expand as part of a new phase of U.S. strategy, which has already prompted scrutiny in Congress after multiple lethal strikes. Earlier briefings to lawmakers detailed incidents in which follow-up strikes raised questions about compliance with international law, even as the U.S. maintains a large military buildup in the region.

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