Freelance Contributor
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has made it clear that Trinidad and Tobago is not part of any military operations against Venezuela and is directing all questions about what appears to be the United States’ first strike on Venezuelan soil to the US Embassy.
“Any questions regarding this are best directed to the US Embassy. Trinidad and Tobago is NOT a participant in any military operations within Venezuelan territory,” Persad-Bissessar told Guardian Media via WhatsApp yesterday.
She was responding to questions related to international news reports yesterday, which quoted US President Donald Trump as saying the US had “hit” a dock facility along a shore in Venezuela, as he continued to wage his pressure campaign against the Nicolás Maduro regime.
Trump initially seemed to confirm a strike in what appeared to be an impromptu radio interview last Friday, and when questioned by reporters yesterday about “an explosion in Venezuela”, he confirmed the strike.
“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump said as he met in Florida with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“They load the boats up with drugs, so we hit all the boats, and now we hit the area. It’s the implementation area. There’s where they implement. And that is no longer around.”
If President Trump’s statement is correct, it would be the first strike on Venezuelan soil after months of strikes in Caribbean waters, where boats allegedly carrying drugs were hit.
The US military also said yesterday that it had conducted another strike against a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people. The attacks have killed at least 107 people in 30 strikes since early September, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.
While the Venezuelan government had not officially reacted to President Trump’s claims of a strike on land up to last evening, Venezuelan news media reported on it.
According to Venezuelan daily newspaper El Nacional, President Trump also said yesterday that he had spoken “very recently” with President Maduro, but that the conversation was not fruitful.
On Christmas Eve, there was also an explosion at a chemical production plant in the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo, which set off rumours on social media that the plant was hit by the US military.
However, the company, Primazol, issued a media statement yesterday, where the company revealed the incident was unrelated to a US strike and was brought under control without any injuries.
“Clean-up and assessment efforts are currently underway in coordination with the relevant authorities,” the statement emphasised.
Primazol rejected the different versions circulating via social media, which they lamented only seek to damage the reputation of the business entity.
Also yesterday, Venezuelan General Domingo Hernández Lárez, Strategic Operational Commander, reported on his social media accounts the destruction of eight aircraft and the dismantling of four logistical camps belonging to drug trafficking groups in Amazonas state.
The operation took place in the Alto Orinoco municipality, a border area with the Republic of Brazil. It was carried out under the direct instructions of Maduro as part of a frontal offensive against the trafficking of narcotics and psychotropic substances throughout the nation.
The Venezuelan military officer said Venezuela had recorded a total of 39 aircraft rendered unusable so far in 2025 and 430 since 2012, consolidating an insurmountable barrier against organised crime.
