President Donald Trump said Monday that his administration carried out its first U.S. military strike on land in Venezuela, marking a significant escalation in his campaign against the country after a series of strikes targeting suspected drug-running boats at sea.
Trump confirmed the strike while standing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, responding to a reporter’s question about an explosion in Venezuela.
“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump said. “They load the boats up with drugs, so we hit all the boats and we hit the area — it’s an implementation area. That’s where they implement. And that is no longer around.”
The president declined to provide further details about the operation.
The announcement follows warnings Trump issued several weeks earlier, when he said his administration would begin striking Latin American “narco-terrorists” on land rather than limiting operations to the sea. Trump indicated that threat applies to countries beyond Venezuela.
“If they come in through a certain country, or any country, or if we think they’re building mills for whether it’s fentanyl or cocaine — I hear Colombia, the country of Colombia, is making cocaine. They have cocaine manufacturing plants, okay? And they sell us their cocaine. We appreciate that very much,” Trump said sarcastically in early December.
The land strike has drawn criticism from Democratic lawmakers, as well as from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who have raised concerns about the administration’s actions.
Trump’s decision to strike Venezuela also aligns with his broader effort to remove President Nicolás Maduro from power.
In mid-December, Trump announced what he described as a “COMPLETE BLOCKADE” of Venezuela, claiming the country had “stole” American assets. Since the blockade was imposed, U.S. authorities have seized several Venezuelan oil tankers off the country’s coast.
