The U.S. launched military operations against Venezuela overnight on Jan. 3, according to media reports.
The blasts came after a United States military buildup in the Caribbean and threats by PresidentDonald Trumpagainst Venezuela's government and its president,Nicolás Maduro. Venezuelan state mediadistributed a statement from Maduro's governmentthat blamed the U.S. for the attacks in the capital of Caracas and in the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira.
The Pentagon and U.S. Southern Command declined to comment to USA TODAY, referring inquiries to the White House, which did not immediately respond to queries. The extent of the operation and its goals were not immediately clear.
The overnight explosions follow a wave of attacks by the U.S. military onalleged drug-trafficking vesselsin the Caribbean and Pacific that began in early September.
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A sizeable American flotilla has amassed in the southern Caribbean Sea, including multiple guided missile destroyers, a missile cruiser, and a Marine Corps amphibious ready group aboard Navy landing ships. The U.S. publicly moved the USS Gerald R. Ford – the world's largest aircraft carrier – into the region in recent months as well.
Just days before the apparent attack, President Donald Trump confirmed that theCIA conducted a land strikeagainst a dock facility in the country.
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The administration has attacked at least 35 boats traversing international waters, killing at least 115 people − many of them Venezuelans. Trump and other officials have defended the boat strikes as an attempt to stop illegal narcotics, specifically fentanyl, from flooding into the country.
"The Biden administration preferred the kid gloves approach, allowing millions of people — including dangerous cartels and unvetted Afghans — to flood our communities with drugs and violence," Defense SecretaryPete Hegsethsaid in a Nov. 29 post on X, when helashed out at a reportthat he ordered U.S. military officials to leave no survivors during one of the Caribbean sea strikes.
Lawmakers from both parties have criticized the Trump administration's military attacks for providing no intelligence briefings or other evidence about what the vessels are carrying. Some members of Congress, former military officials and legal analysts have said the strikes are illegal and amount to extrajudicial killings thatviolate international human rights law.
Some of those lawmakers also criticized Saturday's strikes and the administration's silence in their immediate wake.
"We have no vital national interests in Venezuela to justify war," said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii,on X. "We should have learned not to stumble into another stupid adventure by now. And he's not even bothering to tell the American public what the hell is going on."
Trump has described Maduro, who has been in power since 2013 after the death of populist Hugo Chávez, as running Venezuela like a"narco-terrorist" drug cartelthat is directly responsible for American deaths.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Jets and blasts shake Venezuelan capital