Trump says US forces struck narcotics loading docks in Venezuela

Magan Crane, Bloomberg News on Dec 29, 2025

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President Donald Trump said the U.S. struck a facility inside Venezuela, in what would be a significant escalation in its campaign against alleged drug trafficking operations there.

“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump told reporters Monday, confirming comments from last week.

Trump’s reference to an attack within Venezuela would mark the first time the U.S. has announced a land strike in the country. The administration has raised pressure on the government of Nicolas Maduro by bombing boats in the region and implementing a blockade to disrupt the country’s oil exports.

Separately, the U.S. carried out another strike on an alleged drug boat in international waters on Monday, U.S. Southern Command announced on X, sharing a 22-second video showing a vessel being destroyed in a fiery explosion.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the military said, adding that the operation killed two alleged drug traffickers.

Trump earlier Monday said he had spoken with Maduro “pretty recently,” but dismissed the conversation as unproductive.

“Nothing much comes of it,” he said of their calls.

The Venezuelan government didn’t respond to requests for comment on Trump’s remarks about the strike inside their country — unusual compared with its more vocal and defiant responses to U.S. interventions in the Caribbean in recent months.

CNN, citing unnamed sources, reported Monday night that earlier this month the CIA carried out a drone attack on a dock along the Venezuelan coast that U.S. authorities believe was tied to the gang Tren de Aragua. There were no casualties, the sources told the network.

The Pentagon directed a request to confirm the strike on the loading docks to the White House. The White House earlier Monday did not respond to a request for comment on Trump’s remarks in an interview last week, where he first revealed the strike. The White House also did not respond to a request for comment on the CNN report.

Trump said in a radio interview on Friday that the U.S. had hit a target the day before Christmas.

“They have a big plant, or a big facility where the ships come from. Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard,” he said in the interview.

Trump has warned for weeks that he was ready to expand the military campaign by striking targets on land.

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(With assistance from Eric Martin, Courtney Subramanian, Kate Sullivan, Meghashyam Mali, Crayton Harrison, Jen Judson, Derek Wallbank and Josh Wingrove.)

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