PALM BEACH, FLORIDA — President Donald Trump noted that the United States “hit” a pier facility along the beach while he was conducting an attack Pressure campaign on VenezuelaBut the United States provided few details.
Trump initially appeared to confirm the strike in what appeared to be an impromptu radio interview on Friday, and when asked by reporters on Monday about an “explosion in Venezuela,” he said the United States had struck a facility where boats accused of carrying drugs are being loaded.
“There was a big explosion in the dock area where they load boats with drugs,” Trump said. He met in Florida with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “They’re filling the boats with drugs, so we hit all the boats and now we’ve hit the area. It’s the enforcement zone. That’s where they enforce it. That doesn’t exist anymore.”
It’s part of a mounting effort to target what the Trump administration says Drug smuggling boats Heading to the United States. It comes close to the shore strikes the military has conducted to date in international waters in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific.
The US military said it launched another strike on Monday against a boat accused of drug smuggling in the eastern Pacific, killing two people. The attacks have killed at least 107 people in 30 strikes since early September, according to figures announced by the Trump administration.
Trump declined to specify whether the US military or the CIA carried out the strike on the pier or where it occurred. It was not confirmed that this happened in Venezuela.
“I know exactly who he is, but I don’t want to say who he is. But you know he was along the beach,” Trump said.
Trump first referenced the strike on Friday, when he called radio host John Catsimatidis during a program on WABC Radio and discussed US strikes on alleged drug boats.
“I don’t know if you’ve read or seen, they have a big factory or a big facility that they send to, you know, where the ships come from,” Trump said. “Two nights ago, we dropped that. So, we hit them hard.”
Trump did not provide any additional details in the interview.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or one of the US military’s social media accounts in the past has announced every strike on a boat in a post on X, but there has never been a post of any strike on a facility.
The Pentagon on Monday referred questions to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a message requesting more details. The Venezuelan government press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s statement.
Trump It has been suggested for several months He might launch ground strikes in South America, or in Venezuela, or perhaps in another country, and in recent weeks he has been saying that the United States will move beyond striking boats and ships. It will hit Earth “soon.”“.
In October, Trump confirmed that he had done so Authorized by the CIA To carry out secret operations in Venezuela. The agency did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Monday.
In addition to the strikes, the United States sent warships and reinforced military forces in the region. Seizing two oil tankers and The third followed.
The Trump administration said it existed “Armed conflict” with drug gangs And seeking to stop the flow of drugs into the United States.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro He insisted that the real goal of US military operations was to force him from power.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles said In an interview with Vanity Fair It was reported this month that Trump “wants to keep blowing up boats until Maduro makes his uncle cry.”
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Prices reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Konstantin Torobin in Washington and Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.