Earlier this month, the CIA carried out a drone strike against a port facility on the coast of Venezuela, sources with knowledge of the matter told CNN, marking the first known attack by the US on a target inside that country.
The drone strike, details of which had not been reported until now, targeted a remote dock on the coast of Venezuela, which the US government believed was being used by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to store drugs and transfer them to boats for further trafficking, the sources said. At the time of the strike, no one was at the facility, so there were no casualties, according to the same sources.
Two sources said that US Special Forces provided support for the operation, underscoring their ongoing involvement in the region. However, Colonel Allie Weiskopf, a spokesperson for US Special Operations Command, denied it, stating: “Special Operations did not support this operation, including the provision of intelligence.”
President Donald Trump appeared to acknowledge the attack for the first time in an interview last week, which initially drew little attention, although he provided few details, even when asked directly about it on Monday.
The strike could significantly escalate tensions between the US and Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, whom the US is pressuring to step down through an aggressive military campaign.
The US has launched attacks destroying more than 30 vessels in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean, as part of what it has described as an anti-drug campaign, while Trump has ordered the blockade of sanctioned oil tankers heading to or departing from Venezuela.
Trump had also repeatedly threatened to carry out strikes inside Venezuela, but until the CIA attack earlier this month, the only known US strikes against Venezuelan targets involved suspected drug-trafficking vessels in international waters.
The CIA declined to comment. CNN requested comment from the White House, US Special Operations Command, and Venezuela’s Ministry of Communications and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In his interview on December 26, Trump acknowledged that the US had neutralized some kind of “large facility where the ships come from,” as he spoke about his administration’s campaign against Venezuela. When asked again on Monday, he said the US attacked “a dock area where they load the boats with drugs.” However, he declined to comment when asked whether the attack was carried out by the military or the CIA.
“We hit all the boats, and now we hit the area,” Trump said Monday. “It is the implementation area, where they implement, and that no longer exists.”
One of the sources said the strike was successful, as it destroyed the facility and its boats, but described it as largely symbolic, given that it is only one of many port facilities used by drug traffickers departing from Venezuela. It also appeared to attract little to no attention, even within the country, in real time.