US hit at ‘big facility’ in Venezuela was a drone strike carried out by CIA: Report
The drone strike targeted a remote dock on the Venezuelan coast that the US government believed was being used by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to store drugs.
President Donald Trump said President Nicolas Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country. (File Photo)
The US ‘hit’ on a facility in Venezuela, which President Donald Trump indicated on Monday was reportedly carried out earlier this month, on a port. According to CNN, the CIA carried out the drone strike on a port facility on the coast of Venezuela.
Drone strike targeted remote dock
The drone strike targeted a remote dock on the Venezuelan coast that the US government believed was being used by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to store drugs and move them onto boats for shipping.
The sun rises in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
CNN, which cited two sources, said there were no casualties in the strike as no one was present at the facility at the time.
While the date of the drone strike is yet unclear, The New York Times reported that it could have been on Wednesday, two days before Trump first publicly acknowledged it.
What Trump said about the strike
Trump initially spoke about the strike in an impromptu radio interview on Friday when he called host John Catsimatidis during a program on WABC radio.
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“I don’t know if you read or saw, they have a big plant or a big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from,” Trump said. “Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So, we hit them very hard.”
When questioned on Monday by reporters about “an explosion in Venezuela,” Trump said the US struck a facility where boats accused of carrying drugs “load up.”
President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump said as he met in Florida with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“They load the boats up with drugs, so we hit all the boats and now we hit the area. It’s the implementation area. There’s where they implement. And that is no longer around.”
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Trump had declined to say if the US military or the CIA carried out the strike on the dock or where it occurred. He did not confirm it happened in Venezuela.
“I know exactly who it was, but I don’t want to say who it was. But you know it was along the shore,” Trump said.
First strike close to coast
The drone strike is the first such known operation the US has carried out closer to the shores of Venezuela.
Until now, the US military has only been carrying out strikes on alleged drug boats in international waters in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean.
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The US military said it conducted another strike on Monday against a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people. The attacks have killed at least 107 people in 30 strikes since early September, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.
In October, Trump confirmed he had authorised the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela.
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President Donald Trump said President Nicolas Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country. (File Photo) 
