VIDEO Trump announces that the US hit a quay belonging to Venezuela, where the ships were loaded with drugs / The attack was allegedly carried out with drones by the CIA
Donald Trump. Credit line: Alex Brandon / AP / Profimedia
US President Donald Trump confirmed on Monday that the United States last week destroyed a “port area” used by Venezuelan ships that he accuses of transporting drugs, reports the BBC. The blast was caused by a CIA drone strike, CNN and the New York Times reported, citing sources familiar with the situation.
Trump first spoke about the attack in an interview published Friday, announcing that the U.S. had destroyed a “large facility” used to make boats for drug trafficking, but did not say whether the attack was carried out on Venezuelan soil.
Speaking to the media at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on Monday, Trump said there had been a “major explosion” in a port area where drug-trafficking ships were being loaded.
“There was a major explosion in the area of the docks where the boats were loaded with drugs,” the US president said.
“We hit all the boats, and now the area (…), is the implementation area, which now no longer exists,” he added.
🚨 BREAKING: The United States has just conducted its FIRST land strike against Venezuela, President Trump confirms
The military took out a drug facility, resulting in a “massive explosion”
Things are really heating up. pic.twitter.com/42AUndfypn
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) December 29, 2025
CNN: The CIA attacked inside the country, with drones
The attack on the port facility on the coast of Venezuela was carried out by the CIA and drones were used, sources familiar with the matter told CNN and the New York Times. If confirmed, this would be the first known US attack on a target inside Venezuela.
Reporters asked Trump on Monday whether the CIA had carried out the attack, but the US president declined to say: “I know exactly who it was, but I don't want to say who.”
The drone strike targeted an isolated dock on the Venezuelan coast that the U.S. government believed was being used by the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang to store drugs and transport them on boats for onward shipment, CNN's sources said. No one was on the pier at the time of the attack, so there were no casualties, according to the sources.
Two sources said US Special Forces provided intelligence support for the operation, underscoring their continued involvement in the region. But Colonel Allie Weiskopf, a spokeswoman for the US Special Operations Command, denied this, saying that “Special Forces did not support this operation, including by providing information.”
Since September, the US has launched attacks on what it believes are drug-smuggling boats, targeting more than 20 vessels in the Pacific and Caribbean and killing at least 100 people.
Trump has ordered a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela and has also repeatedly threatened to carry out attacks inside Venezuela, but until the alleged CIA attack, the only known US attacks on Venezuelan targets were against suspected drug-trafficking vessels in international waters.
