Trump announces a US strike on a "major facility" in Venezuela. For the first time on the mainland

President of the United States Donald Trump said that the United States had struck a "major blow" at the country's port facility, where, according to him, drugs were being loaded onto boats. This was reported by Reuters and CNN.

According to Trump, "there was a big explosion in the area of the dock where they load the boats with drugs". He noted that the US "hit all the boats" in the area.

"We just took out – I don't know if you've read or seen it – they have a big factory or a big facility where the ships come from. Two nights ago, we took it out of service. So we hit them very hard," the head of state said.

The president did not specify which unit of the US government carried out the attack. When asked whether the Central Intelligence Agency was involved, Trump said he knew who was behind the operation, but did not want to disclose it.

It is noted that the target was a remote dock used by the Tren de Aragua group to store drugs and transport them by sea.

The CIA, the Pentagon, and the White House did not comment on the president's statements. The Venezuelan government also did not provide an official reaction, and there was no independent confirmation of the incident from the Venezuelan side.

How to notes CNN, citing sources familiar with the case, reported that in early December, the CIA conducted a drone strike on a port facility on the coast of Venezuela. If the strike reported by Trump was indeed carried out in Venezuela, it was the first such strike on the territory of that country.

The source confirmed the success of the operation, which resulted in the destruction of both the facility and the vessels that were there. At the same time, the strike was largely symbolic, as it hit only one of the many ports used to export goods from Venezuela.

• on November 14, the Minister of War, Hugheset announced about the start of a large-scale military operation near Venezuela. It was officially presented as a campaign against drug trafficking.
• november 24, Washington recognized Maduro and his allies in the government as members of a foreign terrorist organization.
• on December 10, Trump announced that his country had seized the largest tanker ever off the coast of Venezuela. Later, it became known that the U.S. could impose penalties on run into more than 30 oil tankers under US sanctions doing business in Venezuela.