President Trump confirms a US strike destroyed a Venezuelan drug boat loading dock, escalating pressure on the Maduro government.
PALM BEACH: The United States has destroyed a docking area used for alleged Venezuelan drug boats, President Donald Trump confirmed on Monday.
This action potentially marks the first land strike in the US military campaign against narcotics trafficking from Latin America.
“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
“So we hit all the boats and now we hit the area, it’s the implementation area, that’s where they implement.”
The President would not specify if it was a military or CIA operation, stating only that it occurred “along the shore.”
His comments follow earlier remarks in a radio interview where he stated, “Two nights ago we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard.”
Trump has been threatening ground strikes on regional drug cartels for weeks, stating they would begin “soon.”
The incident escalates a pressure campaign against Venezuela’s leftist President Nicolas Maduro, whom Trump accuses of running a drug cartel.
Asked if he had spoken to Maduro recently, Trump said they had talked “pretty recently” but that “nothing much comes out of it.”
There has been no official comment from the Venezuelan government on the reported strike.
The Pentagon referred questions to the White House, which did not respond to requests for comment.
US forces have conducted numerous maritime strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific since September, killing more than 100 people.
Rights groups allege these strikes could constitute extrajudicial killings, a charge Washington denies.
