Overview
- President Donald Trump acknowledged a U.S. strike on a Venezuelan coastal pier earlier in December, describing the site as an area where drug boats were loaded.
- Media reports citing CNN attribute the operation to the CIA with U.S. Special Operations intelligence support, while the White House, CIA, and military declined detailed comment.
- The target was a pier U.S. officials link to the Tren de Aragua for storing narcotics and preparing transfers to boats, and no deaths were reported because the site was empty.
- The action is described as the first known U.S. operation inside Venezuela and marks a sharper phase in Washington’s pressure campaign on Nicolás Maduro.
- Unresolved details include whether a CIA or military platform conducted the strike; the campaign has also destroyed more than 30 suspected drug-running boats and caused over 100 deaths in recent months, with MQ-9 Reapers based in Puerto Rico supporting regional operations.