President Donald Trump said yesterday that the US had “hit” an area in Venezuela where boats are loaded with drugs, marking the first known time Washington has carried out land operations in Venezuela since a pressure campaign began against President Nicolas Maduro’s government.
“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump said. “We hit all the boats, and now we hit the area... it’s the implementation area. That’s where they implement, and that is no longer around.”
It was not immediately clear what target was hit nor which part of the US government acted.
Asked if the CIA had carried out the attack, Trump said: “I don’t want to say that. I know exactly who it was but I don’t want to say who it was.” Trump has previously said that he has authorised the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela.
On a radio show last week, Trump made vague comments about an apparent US operation against a “big facility” in Venezuela.
The Central Intelligence Agency, the White House and the Pentagon have not publicly elaborated on those comments and declined to comment on questions posed by Reuters.
The Venezuelan government has not commented on the incident Trump described and there have been no independent reports from Venezuela of it.
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