US drone attack on alleged drug trafficking base in Venezuela
US President Donald Trump has confirmed an attack by US drones on a drug traffickers' cargo port in Venezuelan territory
The Trump administration's offensive against the Maduro regime has escalated significantly in recent months. The latest chapter took place on Monday, when a US drone attack on a port where drug traffickers' ships were allegedly being loaded resulted in the deaths of at least two of the alleged drug traffickers, according to the US Southern Command.
Trump confirms the attack
US President Donald Trump himself confirmed the news to journalists who had gathered at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida to cover his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to Trump, there was a large explosion at the site where the boats were being loaded with drugs, although he did not provide further details about its location.
The explosion was caused by a drone attack carried out by the CIA, according to CNN and The New York Times, which cite sources close to the operation.
If confirmed, it would be the first known operation carried out by the United States on Venezuelan territory.
Pressure on Maduro
Trump had already threatened air strikes in Venezuela, as well as authorising covert operations by the CIA, as part of his campaign to put pressure on Nicolás Maduro's regime.
The press attending the summit between Trump and Netanyahu asked the former whether the CIA had carried out the attack, but the US president stated: "I don't want to say.
I know exactly who it was, but I don't want to say.‘
Narcoterrorism
This is the second time Trump has referred to this explosion. In a radio interview last week, the president mentioned a US operation against ’important infrastructure," but offered no further details.
This US attack on Venezuelan territory constitutes an escalation in the pressure that the Trump administration is exerting on the government of Nicolás Maduro, whom it accuses of leading a narco-terrorist organisation, an accusation that has been rejected by the Venezuelan president himself.
The Caracas government has denied any involvement in drug trafficking and insists that Washington is seeking to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro in order to control Venezuela's oil reserves, the largest in the world.
US military deployment
The attacks have taken place amid a major US military deployment in the region, involving more than 15,000 troops, as well as the intervention of several oil tankers, as part of a US blockade of ships entering and leaving Venezuela.
For months, Trump has been suggesting that the United States could expand its operations to include ground attacks in South America, especially in Venezuela, and has recently indicated that they would go beyond attacks on ships, striking land soon’.
Last October, Trump claimed that he had authorised the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela. Monday's attack on Venezuelan ships and their base could be the first of these.
