U.S. attacked a port in Venezuela with CIA drones, according to the New York Times

Washington.- The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of United States carried out a drone strike last week against a port facility in Venezuela, in what constitutes the first known US operation inside the country, reported this Monday the New York Times. 

According to the newspaper, the attack targeted a pier that U.S. officials believe was used by the Tren de Aragua to store narcotics and prepare their transfer on vessels. Sources under anonymity indicated that there were no people at the scene at the time of the impact and that no fatalities were recorded. The president, Donald Trump, confirmed on Monday that the United States was responsible for the attack, although he refused to detail how it was executed or who carried it out. “There was a big explosion in the dock area where they load the drugs onto the boats,” the Republican told reporters at his private Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago.

The Tensions Between Washington and Caracas

The Venezuelan Government did not directly comment on the operation, while the Minister of the Interior, Diosdado Cabello, denounced a series of actions of «harassment, threats and attacks». According to The New York Times, the operation marks an intensification of the Trump Administration’s pressure campaign against the Nicolás Maduro government, which until now had been limited to actions in international waters against vessels suspected of drug trafficking.

The Pentagon has deployed MQ-9 Reaper drones in the region as part of that strategy, the newspaper added.

For several weeks, Trump has been warning that within the framework of his campaign of pressure against the administration of Nicolás Maduro, which has involved the destruction of about thirty boats that supposedly carry drugs and the death of more than 100 of their occupants, Washington was going to begin to attack targets on land.

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The U.S. has maintained a large air and naval deployment in the Caribbean since mid-year, near Venezuelan waters, which, it claims, aims to combat drug trafficking, but which Caracas interprets as “threats” and an attempt to bring about a change of regime. Tensions escalated after Trump’s announcement of a blockade on sanctioned oil tankers moving to and from the South American country, and the confiscation of two ships carrying Venezuelan crude in recent weeks.