The president said American forces recently destroyed a drug-trafficking facility inside Venezuela, marking the first confirmed land operation in his campaign against Maduro-linked narco-terrorists.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump said U.S. forces have carried out their first land strike inside Venezuela, targeting and destroying a smuggling facility tied to narcotics trafficking, a disclosure he made unexpectedly during a live radio interview Friday.
Trump revealed the operation during a surprise phone call to billionaire businessman and radio host John Catsimatidis, who was filling in on WABC’s Sid and Friends in the Morning. Catsimatidis told listeners his phone rang during the broadcast and that Trump was on the line, following prior private exchanges between the two about global security issues, including militant threats in Africa and drug trafficking in the Western Hemisphere.
During the on-air conversation, Trump shifted to his administration’s campaign against Venezuelan drug-smuggling operations in the Caribbean and Pacific and casually confirmed that at least one ground target inside Venezuela had already been struck.
“I don’t know if you read or you saw, they have a big plant or a big facility where they send the — where the ships come from. Two nights ago we knocked that out — so we hit them very hard,” Trump said, according to remarks he told Catsimatidis. The president did not identify the precise location of the facility or describe the specific methods used to destroy it.
Catsimatidis, who hosts a nationally syndicated radio show, said Trump had decided to call him unexpectedly after they had been texting the night before about military action against Islamic State-linked terrorists in northern Nigeria. Trump’s call also touched on his broader anti-narcotics campaign aimed at Venezuelan smugglers operating under the regime of Nicolás Maduro.
The disclosure follows months of escalating U.S. military pressure. Trump began ordering strikes against drug-smuggling boats in September and had repeatedly signaled that land-based operations could follow. In a Thanksgiving Day phone call to U.S. service members, Trump said efforts to stop Venezuelan traffickers would soon extend beyond the sea. “We’ll be starting to stop them by land also. The land is easier, but that’s going to start very soon,” he said.
On Dec. 11, Trump again raised the prospect publicly, telling reporters at the White House that operations were “going to be starting on land pretty soon,” comments that were later reported. Based on the timeline Trump described during the radio call, the first ground strike occurred roughly 13 days after those remarks.
The New York Times reported Friday that unnamed officials confirmed a strike had taken place but offered little additional detail. The newspaper said officials declined to specify the location of the site, how the attack was conducted, or the facility’s exact role in the drug trade, and noted there had been no public acknowledgment from the Venezuelan government or regional authorities. The report was published after the president’s comments became public.
Trump’s revelation marks a significant escalation in U.S. actions against Venezuelan drug networks and represents the first acknowledged instance of American forces striking a target on Venezuelan soil during his current campaign against what he has described as narco-terrorist operations linked to the Maduro regime.
Original article
Comments