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Donald Trump Confirms First U.S. Land Attack On Venezuela Dock After Boat Strikes—What Was the Real Target?

After boat strikes, Trump launches first land strike on Venezuela but skips mentioning crucial details

By Srijony Das
Just a month after the controversial boat strikes, the U.S. Southern Command has launched its first land attack on Venezuela. As Donald Trump focuses on eliminating drug cartels in and around America, his recent confirmation of hitting a dock following the attack has been gripping attention nationwide. Speaking to the press on Monday, as he confirmed hitting land where the drug boats were docked, he still avoided specifying which area was the primary target. However, the president, 79, was sanguine about the spot, which was hit by the U.S. Navy, and was crucial to the operations of the drug cartel present there. He said, “There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs. We hit all the boats, and now we hit the area ... it's the implementation area. That's where they implement, and that is no longer around.” When further asked if it was the Central Intelligence Agency CIA who launched the attack, the U.S. President openly dismissed giving any clarity on the matter. In his words, “I don't want to say that. I know exactly who it was, but I don't want to say who it was." However, according to a report by CNN, it was indeed the CIA that had launched a drone attack earlier in December. The target was a port facility located on the coast of Venezuela. U.S. officials believe this was the spot that happened to be a remote dock, which was extensively used by the notorious drug trafficking group Tren de Aragua. It was in this place that the narcotics were first stored before they were moved on board vessels and then shipped forward. Previously, Donald Trump had already given a strong hint of carrying out a land strike on Venezuela soon enough. A week before the attack, the U.S. President spoke on a radio show and discussed the plans of an apparent operation against a ‘big facility’ in Venezuela. Previously, right after the controversial boat strikes, he had perhaps for the first time echoed a possibility of taking up land strikes next. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, he had said, “Very soon, we’re going to start doing it on land, too. You know, the land is much easier … And we know the routes they take. We know everything about them. We know where they live. We know where the bad ones live. And we’re going to start that very soon, too.” ​Coming back to the controversial boat strikes, which stirred debate on humanitarian grounds, it ended up fetching a lot of backlash for the Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. The fact that he had allegedly said that there should be no survivors sparked murmurs of discord among people, since there were two survivors on the last remaining boats. In fact, there were even questions raised on whether these vessels actually carried narcotics or whether it was just an order given out of conjecture. Meanwhile, there has been no official confirmation on the matter, as neither the Pentagon, the White House, nor the Central Intelligence Agency has addressed it publicly. Likewise, the Venezuelan government has also not commented on the news, whether the U.S. has been successful in marking its first known land strike.

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