CIA behind U.S. drone strike on Venezuelan dock allegedly used for drug smuggling: Reports

The CIA was responsible for a U.S.-led drone strike last week on a Venezuelan dock that President Trump said was involved in drug trafficking, according to media reports.

The dock strike is the first known direct attack on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began its massive military buildup in the Caribbean in 2025 and could mark a major escalation in tensions between Washington and Caracas.

Media reports say CIA operatives carried out the strike with intelligence support from U.S. Special Operations Forces. However, Army Col. Allie Weiskopf, a spokesperson for U.S. Special Operations Forces, said no such support was provided. The CIA has not said if it was involved in the airstrike.

CNN, citing two anonymous sources, was the first news outlet to report on the CIA’s involvement in the airstrike.

Mr. Trump acknowledged the strikes in an interview last Friday, confirming that U.S. forces had hit a “big facility where ships come from.” The Venezuelan government has yet to confirm the strike.

Mr. Trump said Monday that the targeted area contained a docking area that had been used to load boats for the transfer of deadly narcotics.

“There was a major explosion in the dock area, where they load the boats up with drugs,” the president said. “It’s the implementation area, and that is no longer around.”

Since August, Mr. Trump has repeatedly suggested that strikes on land targets in Venezuela would come, but no land attacks had been conducted before last week’s dock strike. Mr. Trump had already acknowledged that he had authorized the CIA to carry out covert actions in Venezuela.

Neither the president nor the CIA has specified which organization carried out the attack.

The dock strike is the latest escalation in the pressure campaign by the Trump administration against the government led by Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro. Mr. Trump has called the Maduro government a “terrorist organization” and has accused it of being actively involved in drug trafficking.

Since August, the U.S. has built up forces in the Caribbean Sea, ordered a naval blockade to seize sanctioned oil tankers and conducted 30 deadly airstrikes on small boats that the administration said were carrying illicit drugs and were operated by “narco-terrorists.”

Mr. Maduro has denied allegations that he is the leader of a government-run drug cartel and has asserted that the U.S. is seeking regime change in Venezuela to gain access to its oil reserves.

Mr. Maduro has been a wanted man in the U.S. since 2020, with the Department of Justice increasing its bounty on the Venezuelan leader to $50 million in 2025.

The dock strike is likely to infuriate U.S. lawmakers who have chafed at Mr. Trump’s use of executive authority to hit small boats in the Caribbean. The strikes have killed more than 100 people, and lawmakers of both parties have demanded that Trump administration officials provide details about the strikes.

Under the National Security Act, the president is required to keep members of Congress’ intelligence committees fully informed on all significant intelligence activities, especially covert actions, performed by the CIA.