“According to CNN, this month the CIA carried out a drone strike on a port facility on the coast of Venezuela.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
illustrative photo: Getty Images Source: CNN, citing sources familiar with the matter
Details: The publication notes that this is the first known US attack on a facility in this country.
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According to CNN sources, the drone strike, the details of which have not been previously reported, was directed at a remote jetty on the coast of Venezuela that US authorities believe was used by the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang to store drugs and transport them to boats for further shipment.
CNN writes that there was no one at the facility at the time of the strike, so there were no casualties.
The publication’s sources also reported that the operation was conducted with the intelligence support of American special operations forces, which underlines their permanent presence in the region.
Trump appeared to first acknowledge the attack in an interview last week that initially drew little attention, though he did not provide any specific details, even when asked directly by reporters on Monday.
The strike could significantly heighten tensions between the US and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who is being pressured by the US to step down while waging an aggressive military campaign.
The U.S. has struck, destroying more than 30 vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific as part of a so-called anti-drug campaign, and Trump has ordered a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers coming to and from Venezuela. Trump has also repeatedly threatened to strike inside Venezuela, but before the CIA attack earlier this month, the only known US strikes against Venezuelan targets were on suspected drug-trafficking vessels in international waters.
On December 26, Trump admitted that the US had destroyed some “big facility where the ships come out of” when he talked about his administration’s campaign against Venezuela. When asked again on Monday, he said the US had attacked “the dock area where the ships load the drugs”. However, he declined to comment on whether the attack was carried out by the military or the CIA.
“So we hit all the boats, and now we hit the district,” Trump said on Monday. “That’s the implementation district, that’s where they implement, and it’s gone.”
One CNN source said the strike was successful because it destroyed the facility and its boats, but called it largely symbolic because it is just one of many port facilities used by drug traffickers leaving Venezuela.
In addition, it does not seem to have attracted much attention even domestically in real time, the publication adds.
Earlier this year, Trump expanded the CIA’s authority to conduct operations in Latin America, including Venezuela. But even then, the US military had the legal authority to launch attacks only against suspected drug traffickers at sea, not on land.
The Trump administration has provided various justifications for the campaign in Venezuela, which involved a massive build-up of military assets in the Caribbean. Officials have pointed to the need to fight drugs, but Trump administration chief Susie Wiles said the strikes on the ships were intended to force Maduro to “give up.” However, the Venezuelan leader showed no signs of relinquishing power.
Senior US officials have made clear publicly and in briefings that they intend to continue to pursue suspected drug smugglers using a strategy similar to that used to take down terrorists during the global war on terror, a campaign in which the CIA has also played a key role. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has openly compared drug traffickers to Al Qaeda.
“These narco-terrorists are the Al Qaeda of our hemisphere,” the secretary said at the Reagan National Defense Forum earlier this month. “And we hunt them with the same sophistication and precision that we hunted Al Qaeda.”
What preceded: The US has flown a large number of special purpose aircraft and several cargo planes filled with troops and equipment to the Caribbean.
According to Reuters, the White House ordered to focus on the “quarantine” of Venezuelan oil, at least for the next two months.
Prehistory:
- On December 17, US President Donald Trump announced a complete blockade of Venezuela’s oil tankers subject to sanctions.
- American troops, concentrated in the Caribbean, took full control of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on December 10.
- At the end of November, Trump said that the United States would “very soon” begin to take measures to stop the ground movement of Venezuelans suspected of drug trafficking.
- On November 14, US Defense Minister Pete Hegseth announced the beginning of a large-scale military operation, which, according to the official statements of the US administration, is aimed at combating drug trafficking.
- However, the unprecedented deployment of military forces, including an aircraft carrier strike group, and earlier discussions in the White House about options for military operations in Venezuela could indicate a possible military intervention.
Read also: Maduro and drug trafficking, Trump and US intervention, mafia regime and human rights: what is happening in Venezuela?