Trump: US ‘Knocked Out’ Big Facility in Venezuela
President Trump said the United States carried out a major strike in Venezuela last week, targeting what he described as a key facility tied to drug trafficking.
In a radio interview Friday with GOP donor John Catsimatidis on WABC, President Trump said the U.S. “knocked out” a “big plant, or a big facility, where the ships come from” in Venezuela “two nights ago,” adding, “we hit them very hard.” His comments came as he discussed his administration’s broader pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, which has included the seizure or destruction of suspected drug-smuggling vessels and efforts to block sanctioned Venezuelan oil shipments, according to CNN.
Venezuelan authorities have not reported the destruction of any major facility. Asked on Monday whether the strike was carried out by the U.S. military, President Trump said, “Well, it doesn’t matter, but there was a major explosion in the dock area, where they load the boats up with drugs,” NBC News reported. He added that the area used to load boats with drugs had been hit and was “no longer around.”
Reuters reported that when asked whether the CIA was responsible for the operation, President Trump declined to say, stating, “I know exactly who it was but I don’t want to say who it was.”
President Trump has publicly discussed the possibility of strikes “on the land” in Venezuela for weeks, even as the U.S. military has said it has destroyed about 30 vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific during anti-narcotics operations. U.S. officials have previously said potential land targets could include suspected drug production sites or trafficking hubs, and President Trump has authorized covert CIA operations in the country.
On Christmas Eve, he told sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford that they were in an “interesting place” and said the United States would be “going after the land.” CNN noted that, based on his remarks to WABC, the reported strike would have taken place around the same time.
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