US bombed suspected cocaine factory in Venezuela: Colombian leader

BOGOTA, Colombia: Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday said the United States bombed a suspected cocaine factory in the port city of Maracaibo, Venezuela.

“We know that Trump bombed a factory, in Maracaibo, which we fear was mixing coca paste to make cocaine,” Petro said on X, a day after Trump confirmed the United States struck a docking area for alleged drug boats in Venezuela — though it was not immediately clear if this was the same location.

In the lengthy post, Petro suggested the facility was operated by the ELN guerrilla group, which partially controls the cocaine-producing Catatumbo region on the border of Venezuela.

“It’s simply the ELN. The ELN is permitting, with its trafficking and mental dogma, the invasion of Venezuela,” he wrote.

Trump on Monday said the US strikes happened “in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs.”

Venezuela’s government has not made any official comment on the land strike.

The Trump administration has been ramping up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of running a drug cartel and imposing an oil tanker blockade.

Washington has also carried out over 30 strikes on boats alleged to be carrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing over 100 people.