\u201cWe just knocked out \u2014 I don\u2019t know if you read or you saw \u2014 they have a big plant or big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from,\u201d Trump said. \u201cTwo nights ago we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was unclear what Trump was referring to.<\/p>\n
US officials told The New York Times that the president was discussing a drug facility in Venezuela that was destroyed but offered no further details.<\/p>\n
The incident could mark the first known land strike on Venezuela during Trump\u2019s months-long pressure campaign, which began as an anti-narcotics operation but could transform into a regime-change effort.<\/p>\n
The US military\u2019s Southern Command later said it \u201cconducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organisations in international waters\u201d, killing two men.<\/p>\n
Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager.<\/a><\/p>\n Enable cookiesAllow cookies once<\/p>\n The attack brings the total number of vessels hit by US strikes, and accused of smuggling drugs, to 30. The number of people known to have died because of the strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean since September is now 107.<\/p>\n The US has accused Maduro, Venezuela\u2019s authoritarian socialist ruler, of being at the head of a drug cartel. Venezuela\u2019s government has dismissed the allegation as \u201cridiculous\u201d and says the Cartel de los Soles does not exist.<\/p>\n President Maduro has been accused by the US of running a cartel<\/p>\n MIRAFLORES PALACE\/REUTERS<\/p>\n The US has ramped up its military presence in the region and announced a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela in an attempt to deprive Maduro\u2019s regime of a crucial economic lifeline.<\/p>\n The US Coast Guard has intercepted at least two tankers<\/a> in the Caribbean Sea in the last month, both of which were loaded with Venezuelan crude oil.<\/p>\n Trump has warned Maduro that his days in power are numbered. \u201cIf he wants to do something, if he plays tough, it\u2019ll be the last time he\u2019ll ever be able to play tough,\u201d Trump said last week.<\/p>\n China urged the US to de-escalate tensions in the region while Russia<\/a>\u2019s UN ambassador warned: \u201cThis intervention which is unfolding can become a template for future acts of force against Latin American<\/a> states.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Venezuela's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/\/80a28a4d-e2dc-4eff-907c-c83b87b874c4.jpg\")
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