US President Donald Trump stated yesterday, Monday — almost in passing — that the United States destroyed a pier in Venezuela that had been used by vessels which Washington says were involved in trafficking substances, thereby possibly announcing the first ground strike in the Latin American country since the U.S. military campaign launched in the name of combating drug trafficking began in September.

Washington has been steadily escalating pressure on Caracas since the summer, seeking to force President Nicolás Maduro to leave power. The U.S. government accuses him of heading a drug-trafficking ring.

Since early September, U.S. armed forces have bombed dozens of vessels allegedly belonging to drug traffickers — they announced another such strike yesterday, with two dead narco-terrorists in international waters in the eastern Pacific — killing, as far as is known, at least 107 people in the Pacific and the Caribbean.

President Trump has for months brandished the threat of ordering ground operations against drug cartels in Latin America, though none has been confirmed so far.

“We had a big explosion in a coastal area where there is a pier where boats loaded drugs (…) We are hitting all the vessels and now we hit the area (i.e., the loading area),” which “no longer exists,” Mr. Trump told reporters at his residence and private club in Mar-a-Lago, where he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday.

He did not clarify exactly what the target was, when or how it was struck, nor by whom — the military or the intelligence service. Asked whether it was a CIA operation, the Republican replied, “I don’t want to tell you that. I know exactly who it was, but I don’t want to say.”

The U.S. television network CNN, citing sources within the U.S. government, reported that it was indeed a CIA drone strike on a remote pier on a Venezuelan beach, and that it took place this month.

The question was raised by journalists following a vague reference by the American president to the strike during an interview broadcast last Friday.

In the interview, given to Greek-American billionaire businessman and radio talk-show host John Catsimatidis, a devoted supporter of his, Mr. Trump said that the U.S. struck a “large facility” where, according to him, vessels used for drug trafficking were being produced.

“Two nights ago, we destroyed it. We hit them very hard,” he assured.

When contacted by Agence France-Presse for comment, neither the Pentagon nor the White House confirmed President Trump’s statements.

On the other side, the Venezuelan government has made no official announcement regarding such a strike.

Washington deployed naval and air forces with enormous firepower and amphibious ships carrying thousands of Marines to the Caribbean, and announced the imposition of a blockade on Venezuela, targeting oil tankers under sanctions and proceeding to seize two of them.

Venezuelan President Maduro rejects the American accusations and charges that the U.S. government seeks to overthrow him in order to appropriate the country’s oil reserves — the largest proven reserves in the world — the main source of wealth for Caracas.