A firsthand account of an explosion along the Venezuelan coast on Dec. 18 is raising questions about who may have been responsible for the attack and whether it was connected to the U.S.’ escalating pressure campaign against the South American country.
The arid coastal strip in the northwest of Venezuela, known as Alta Guajira, is heavily controlled by the National Liberation Army, or Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) in Spanish, an armed guerilla group known for its history of drug trafficking that is also active in neighboring Colombia.
Two members of Venezuela’s Wayuu indigenous community in the area told NBC News that they witnessed an unexplained explosion on Dec. 18 that destroyed a hut that possibly was used for storage.
President Donald Trump said in an interview with WABC radio in New York last week that the U.S. had “knocked out” a facility tied to Venezuela, a move that would be a major escalation in U.S. military strikes to counter alleged drug-trafficking by the South American country.
NBC News reporting has not established a link between the explosion described by Trump and the explosion described by the eyewitnesses in northwest Venezuela.
The apparent attack follows months of U.S. military pressure, including dozens of strikes on boats in international waters. The White House has claimed that the boats carried drugs, though officials have not provided evidence.
In the short phone interview Friday, Trump responded to a comment about Venezuela by touting the administration’s attacks on alleged drug boats before referring to a strike on a “big plant or big facility” that he said took place two nights earlier.
Pressed about the attack Monday at a media availability session at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, Trump said it was a “major explosion” in a dock area along Venezuela’s shoreline where boats were loaded with drugs.
The CIA has declined to comment on reports that it conducted a drone strike last week at a port facility in Venezuela. The White House has also declined to comment beyond Trump’s remarks on anything related to possible land strikes in Venezuela.
Ana, one of the witnesses who did not want her last name used for fear of reprisals, told NBC News by phone that the explosion she witnessed happened on the afternoon of Dec. 18, a few days after she heard a strange noise that she guessed might be a drone surveilling the area. She said she was fishing for dinner along with relatives when the explosion destroyed the hut.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ana said, noting that the explosion was so loud that she and her relatives were unable to hear for hours. She suspects that some of her relatives suffered hearing damage and said her family’s boat was destroyed along with their fishing nets.
“We are humble people who fish to survive,” she said. “We need help to recover what we lost.”
The other witness, who is also a member of the Wayuu indigenous community and did not want to provide his full name for fear of reprisals, corroborated Ana’s story in a telephone interview.
“I don’t know if it was a missile or a rocket. The truth is, we don’t know what it was,” the second witness said. “But it was a big explosion.”
According to Ana, representatives from the Venezuelan government showed up the morning after she heard the blast — around 10 a.m. Dec. 19. She said local residents asked them for help, for a doctor to check on the hearing problems and for new fishing nets and hammocks, which had also been blown up.
Ana said one of government representatives blamed the U.S. and said: “The gringos did this.”
NBC News asked the Venezuelan government for comment and did not immediately receive a response. It is not clear who was responsible for the Dec. 18 explosion.
“We are grateful to be alive,” Ana said. “But we’re scared.”
On Monday, Trump declined to answer when he was asked whether it was the military or the CIA that conducted the strike inside Venezuela that he described last week.
“I don’t want to say that,” he said. “I know exactly who it was, but I don’t want to say who it was. But you know, it was along the shore.”
With details so scarce, Trump’s comments have touched off a wave of speculation inside Venezuela about the U.S.’ target. For days, local news reports and videos on social media have circulated of a explosion last Wednesday in Maracaibo, a major port city.
Primazol, a chemical production company, said one of its warehouses had caught fire. In a statement later, it “categorically rejected” rumors on social media that the fire was connected to any U.S. strike.
But in a lengthy post on X, Colombia President Gustavo Petro said “Trump bombed a factory in Maracaibo” where it was feared that the ELN was mixing coca paste to make cocaine and take advantage of the port’s location by the sea.
“Trump has been led to believe that I am a front man for Maduro, hence his recent references to me,” Petro wrote, referring to former President Nicolás Maduro. “I thought that American intelligence was more professional, or that even if it is, the U.S. president doesn’t listen to it and surrounds himself with greedy far-right individuals who are not looking for the truth.”
