Trump says the United States has attacked "major facilities" in Venezuela

BarcelonaThe United States has destroyed a plant in Venezuela, according to Donald Trump, who claimed this on Friday and reiterated his assertion on Monday. His initial statements went largely unnoticed, but sources within the US administration have confirmed the claims. New York Times that the attack occurred and that it destroyed a drug-related facility.

"They have a big plant or a big facility where the ships are coming from," Trump said, without specifying where he was referring or directly mentioning Venezuela as the target. "Two nights ago we took it out," he said. The US president made these statements in an interview with John Catsimatidis, the Republican billionaire and supporter of the president, owner of the radio station WABC in New York. The two men were discussing Washington's military campaign in Latin America, which, under the pretext of ending drug trafficking, has attacked dozens of ships suspected of carrying narcotics and killed more than one hundred people.

This Monday, Trump asserted that the United States had "attacked" a port area in Venezuela where, in his opinion, drugs were being loaded onto ships. "There was a big explosion in the port area where they load the ships with drugs. We attacked all the ships, and now we're also attacking the area," Trump told reporters while greeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. But he refused to identify which government entity had carried out the attack.

If confirmed, it would be the first time the United States has launched an attack on Venezuelan soil after months of threats, and would represent a further step in the US siege of Venezuela, which in recent weeks has seized several oil tankers arguing that the profits from the oil were used to finance the Cartel of the Suns, which Washington links to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. But, for now, authorities in Caracas have not confirmed the attack, nor has the White House provided any further details, as it has done with the other attacks launched so far.

The Trump administration has launched a pressure campaign against the Venezuelan regime with the goal of removing Maduro from power. In addition to extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific, Trump has publicly acknowledged that he has authorized the CIA to plan operations inside Venezuela, deployed ships with thousands of troops around the country, and said that will increase sanctions against the Maduro regime.