OAN Staff Blake Wolf
11:23 AM – Monday, December 29, 2025
During a recent interview, President Donald Trump revealed that the United States struck a “big facility” on Venezuelan soil last week — a major escalation in the military campaign against socialist Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
This follows Trump’s warning earlier this month that U.S. strikes on Venezuelan soil could come “pretty soon,” following the seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has also already conducted airstrikes on at least 28 suspected Venezuelan drug trafficking boats, killing approximately 105 individuals that the administration has labeled as “narcoterrorists,” citing classified intelligence assessments.
In a Friday phone interview, President Trump revealed that the U.S. military had “knocked out” a drug facility in Venezuela, making it the first known strike on Venezuelan land after months of strikes against suspected drug trafficking boats.
“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,” Trump told New York’s WABC radio. “Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard.”
However, Trump stopped short of providing specifics on the facility’s location, how the strike occurred, or what role the facility played in drug trafficking.
Back in October, President Trump also confirmed the authorization of U.S.-led CIA operations in the country, as the administration reportedly works to force Maduro out of power.
The United States indicted Maduro in March 2020 on federal charges in the Southern District of New York. He is accused of leading the “Cartel of the Suns,” a drug-trafficking organization involving Venezuelan military officials, and partnering with the FARC, a Colombian guerrilla group designated as a terrorist organization, to traffic massive quantities of cocaine into the U.S.
The U.S., the European Union (EU), and numerous Latin American nations have already deemed Maduro’s current term (2025–2031) illegitimate due to evidence of electoral fraud.
“I authorized for two reasons really, number one they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America, they came in through the border,” Trump stated of Venezuela at the time. “A lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela, and a lot of drugs come in through the sea, but we’re going to stop them by land also.”
Additionally, the Trump administration has since pursued three Venezuelan oil tankers, seizing at least two in recent weeks. Officials have described these as legal seizures under U.S. sanctions, targeting vessels in Venezuela’s “shadow fleet” used to evade restrictions and purportedly fund the illegitimate Maduro regime.
“We’re going to keep it. Maybe we’ll sell it. Maybe we’ll keep it. Maybe we’ll use it in the strategic reserves,” Trump told reporters last week in regards to the seized oil. “We’re keeping the ships, also.”
The first Venezuelan vessel, called the “Skipper,” was seized on December 10th while flying under Guyana’s flag to hide its origin, carrying approximately 1.8 million barrels of crude oil. The second vessel, “Centuries,” was seized more recently, on December 20th. It carried roughly 1.8 million barrels of oil and was reportedly bound for China.
The Venezuelan government has yet to respond to the reported U.S. land attack.
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