Twice in four days, President Donald Trump has claimed that the U.S. struck a ground facility inside Venezuela but without providing any details or corroborating evidence. Asked about Venezuela during a Dec. 26 appearance on New York’s WABC radio, Trump lauded the U.S. military’s attacks against purported drug-smuggling vessels in the region and added that U.S. forces hit a facility two days earlier.
“We just knocked out—I don’t know if you read or you saw—they have a big plant or big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from,” the president told hosts John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby, reported The Hill. “Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard.”
On Monday, Trump claimed further that U.S. personnel hit an “implementation” area. “We hit all the boats and now we hit the area, it’s the implementation area. That’s where they implement. And that is no longer around,” he said during his joint press conferenec withy Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump said there was a “major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” adding it took place “along the shore.”
If true, it would be the first U.S. attack on a ground target in Venezuela, marking a significant escalation. However, neither the Pentagon nor U.S. Southern Command confirmed the strike, referring The Hill to the White House, which had not responded by press time. Neither had the Venezuelan government commented on the alleged U.S. strike.
According to The War Zone, videos emerged online suggesting that an explosion and fire at a Primazol chemical plant near Lake Maracaibo may have been the target of a U.S. attack. TWZ says that while the incident at the chemical plant lines up with the strike timeline proffered by Trump, the company pushed back against suggestions it was attacked. “We categorically reject the versions circulating on social media that seek to damage the reputation of our founder and the organization,” Primazol explained in a statement. “We responsibly clarify that these claims have no relation whatsoever to the incident and are neither official nor verified.”
In a post on X, Jhorman Cruz, a local journalist, cautioned against making a connection between Trump’s claim and the fire. “Residents DID NOT see anything unusual, nor drones, nor cars, nor the presence of foreigners,” he stated. “Be careful with strange hypotheses.”
Southcom did confirm another boat strike yesterday, this one in the eastern Pacific and killing two alleged “narco-terrorists.” This would be the 29th such strike since Sept. 2, bringing the death toll to 107.
