In Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, multiple explosions have been reported amidst increasing tensions spurred by Donald Trump’s aggressive stance towards the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro.
Witnesses informed Reuters that the early hours of Saturday saw planes overhead, loud sounds, and at least one visible column of smoke in Caracas. The exact cause of these explosions remains uncertain.
CNN indicated that the explosions commenced at around 1:50 am local time. Notably, the southern part of the city, which is in proximity to a significant military base, experienced a power outage.
Trump has frequently suggested the possibility of ground operations in Venezuela, as part of a broader strategy to compel Maduro’s departure. This strategy includes heightened sanctions and an increased US military presence in the region.
In recent months, the US has executed over two dozen strikes on vessels suspected of drug trafficking in both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
The Daily Mail has contacted the Pentagon and US Southern Command for their comments on the situation.
On Christmas Eve, multiple sources said the CIA carried out the first US land strike in Venezuela on a port facility believed to have been storing drugs bound for America.
Smoke raises at La Carlota airport after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela
Multiple explosions have been reported in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas amid Donald Trump’s escalating threats against its leader Nicolas Maduro (pictured)
Trump confirmed the Christmas Eve strike on Monday, days after he casually discussed in a radio interview the attack on a facility ‘where the ship comes from.’
The strike, which took place on a port dock authorities believe was the home base of the alleged drug vessels that the US military has been targeting in the Caribbean and Atlantic over the last three months, signaled a further escalation of tensions between the two countries.
Multiple sources have now told CNN that the drone strike was carried out by the CIA, after Trump refused to weigh in on the theory.
Asked if the CIA had carried out the attack, Trump said: ‘I don’t want to say that. I know exactly who it was but I don’t want to say who it was.’
But Trump has previously said that he has authorized the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela.
Sources said the strike took place on a remote dock on the coast of Venezuela believed to used by the Tren de Aragua gang to stockpile and transfer drugs.
The CIA received intelligence support from US Special Operations Forces. No one was killed and there was nobody at the facility when the attack took place.
It is part of an escalating effort to target what the Trump administration says are boats smuggling drugs bound for the United States.
Trump has repeatedly promised land operations in Venezuela, amid efforts to pressure Maduro to leave office, including expanded sanctions and a ramped-up US military presence in the region
The CIA carried out the first US land strike in Venezuela that Donald Trump casually confirmed in a radio interview last week in a further escalation of tensions between the two countries
It moves closer to shore strikes that so far have been carried out by the military in international waters in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.
Speaking on WABC on December 26, Trump made the bombshell suggestion that US forces have already started conducting land operations in Venezuela.
‘I don’t know if you read or you saw, they have a big plant or a big facility where they send the – where the ships come from,’ the President said during a call-in with radio host and billionaire John Catsimatidis, who was filling in for Sid Rosenberg.
‘Two nights ago we knocked that out – so we hit them very hard,’ Trump confirmed.
The President said since late November that the US is shifting away from maritime attacks on drug boats and will ‘soon’ be conducting land strikes in Venezuela.
Starting on September 2, 2025, the Department of War has been conducting strikes against suspected drug ships in the Caribbean and Atlantic.
The operations have killed more than 105 people and are aimed at trafficking routes the US says are to blame for a huge spike in overdose deaths.
The US Southern Command carried out its latest ‘lethal strike’ on Monday, killing two alleged ‘narco-terrorists’ in international waters.
But Trump has said that land targets are ‘much easier’ and has hinted at the shift with a series of comments warning ‘land strikes will start very soon’ and ‘soon we will be starting the same program on land.’
He has also warned Maduro it would be ‘smart’ to step down, but has not gone as far as to confirm that the US military operations are to force regime change.
This is a developing news story.
