- Venezuela accuses U.S. of “very serious military aggression”
What to know about the U.S. military strikes on Venezuela
President Trump ordered strikes on sites inside Venezuela, including military facilities, U.S. officials told CBS News, as the administration early Saturday ratcheted up its campaign against the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The strikes follow months of U.S. military buildup in the region, with the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and numerous other warships positioned in the Caribbean.
In recent weeks the U.S. has seized two oil tankers off Venezuela, launched deadly strikes on more than 30 boats the administration says were carrying drugs, and struck what President Trump called “the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs.”
The Trump administration has accused Maduro of drug trafficking and working with gangs designated as terrorist organizations, which Maduro denies. On Christmas Eve, Mr. Trump declined to say what his goal was, but cautioned that if Maduro “plays tough, it’ll be the last time he’ll ever be able to play tough.”
Maduro said this week he is open to talks with the U.S. on drug trafficking, oil and migration issues “wherever they want to whenever they want.”
President Trump repeatedly warned in recent months that his administration could attack accused drug traffickers who traverse Latin America by land “very soon,” which would mark an escalation in the U.S. military’s campaign of lethal strikes on alleged drug boats.
“We’re going to start doing those strikes on land, too,” Mr. Trump told reporters during a Dec. 2 Cabinet meeting when asked about the administration’s strikes at sea. “You know, the land is much easier … And we know the routes they take. We know everything about them. We know where they live. We know where the bad ones live. And we’re going to start that very soon, too.”
He said at the time that any country where illicit drugs are produced or trafficked could be subject to attack, not just Venezuela.
In a statement early Saturday, the Venezuelan government said it “repudiates and denounces to the international community the very serious military aggression” by the U.S. government.
Venezuela said the strikes targeted civilian and military sites in the city of Caracas and the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira.
The government vowed to defend against the apparent strikes, and accused the U.S. of seeking regime change.
“The whole country must be active to defeat this imperialist aggression,” the government’s statement read, adding a call for an immediate meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
Explosions heard in Caracas
U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News that President Trump had ordered strikes in Venezuela not long after reports started to emerge of explosions and low-flying aircraft in the country’s capital of Caracas in the early Saturday morning hours. Initially U.S. officials had said only that they were aware of the reports.
President Gustavo Petro in neighboring Colombia said in a social media post that someone was “bombing Caracas in this moment,” without saying who.
“Alert to the whole world, they have attacked Venezuela bombing with missiles,” he said, calling for a meeting of the United Nations.
@CBS News
