Donald Trump has claimed that US forces struck a “big facility” in Venezuela last week, but the president did not specify what it was or where, and the White House has not commented further.
Trump told Republican donor John Catsimatidis on Friday that they knocked out a big plant or facility where ships come from, hitting them very hard. On Monday, he went further, saying there was a major explosion in the dock area where boats are loaded with drugs, and they hit the implementation area.
Trump confirmed in October that he had authorised the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, citing the release of prisoners into the US and drug trafficking. If confirmed, this would be the first land strike on Venezuela since the US military buildup in the region.
Video footage posted online on 24 December appeared to show an explosion in Zulia state, but it has not been independently verified. The Venezuelan government has not commented, and there are no independent reports of the incident.
The US military buildup, described as a maritime “quarantine”, involves about 15,000 personnel in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.
