Former President Trump has asserted that American military assets hit a "significant installation" in Venezuela last week. Yet, the former president did not specify the precise purpose or location of the strike, and there has been no further clarification from his camp.
"We just eliminated – I don't know if you saw – they have a big plant, where the vessels depart from. Recently, we knocked that out. So we hit them with significant force," Trump reportedly informed GOP supporter and supermarket owner John Catsimatidis on Friday.
Should a US military action is confirmed, it would mark the initial attack on Venezuelan soil since the US Department of Defense began a buildup of US strike forces in the Caribbean region to interdict drug traffickers that the Trump administration alleges operate under the orders of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
This stated mission of the force deployment has transformed into a blockade aimed at hindering the country's crude oil shipments.
Trump has for weeks stated that US forces are prepared to expand the operations by hitting objectives inside Venezuela, a tactic that would theoretically require congressional authorization.
Online video posted online on 24 December purportedly showed an blast said to be from an industrial area in a Venezuelan state. Yet, the footage or the site in question has not been independently verified.
An administration official allegedly informed a media outlet that the president was describing a drug facility in his remarks.
The Caracas administration has issued no statement on the event Trump referenced. Additionally, there have been no verified accounts from within the country concerning it.
The buildup of American forces in the region – a stance some have called a naval quarantine – represents the broadest maritime enforcement action of his time in office.
Officials have refrained from labeling the action as a blockade, but have confirmed that approximately 15,000 service members are positioned across the Caribbean and the Gulf, including a aircraft carrier group, F-35 aircraft, and law enforcement vessels to enforce current sanctions.
Elena Hartwell is a multidisciplinary artist and educator passionate about fostering creative communities in London.