President Donald Trump confirmed Monday that the United States carried out a precision strike in Venezuela on Christmas Eve, targeting what he described as a “dock area” used to load drug-trafficking boats. The strike reportedly resulted in a major explosion and marks the first known U.S. land-based action against Venezuela since the Trump administration intensified counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean.
Trump made the remarks while welcoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. “It was an implementation area,” Trump said of the strike zone. “It’s no longer around.”
Though the president did not specify which branch of government executed the strike, he declined to confirm whether it was conducted by the CIA or the U.S. military. “I know who it was,” he told reporters, “but I’m not saying.”
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The operation reflects a broader escalation in U.S. efforts to disrupt international drug networks operating out of South America. Trump’s administration recently deployed the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to the region, significantly boosting military presence in Caribbean waters. Numerous boats believed to be involved in drug smuggling have already been intercepted and destroyed off Venezuela’s coast.
The strike came within 24 hours of another U.S. military operation—an airstrike on Islamic State targets in Nigeria on Christmas Day. The Venezuelan strike underscores a new level of engagement in hemispheric security during the holiday season.
President Trump also revealed he had spoken with Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in recent days, but said the conversation yielded little progress. “Not much came out of it,” he remarked.
The target of the Venezuelan strike, described by officials as a narco-trafficking hub, highlights ongoing concerns over Maduro’s regime allegedly providing cover for criminal cartels. The administration’s hardline stance is consistent with Trump’s broader foreign policy approach: confronting hostile regimes, securing American borders, and dismantling transnational criminal networks.
This article originally appeared on American Faith and is reposted with permission.
