{"id":195167,"date":"2025-12-31T05:49:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T05:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/eyewitnesses-describe-mysterious-explosion-in-northwest-venezuela-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T05:49:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T05:49:29","slug":"eyewitnesses-describe-mysterious-explosion-in-northwest-venezuela-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/eyewitnesses-describe-mysterious-explosion-in-northwest-venezuela-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Eyewitnesses describe mysterious explosion in northwest Venezuela – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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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.\u2019 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 Ej\u00e9rcito de Liberaci\u00f3n 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\u2019s 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<\/a> in New York last week that the U.S. had \u201cknocked out\u201d 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<\/a> 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\u2019s attacks on alleged drug boats before referring to a strike on a \u201cbig plant or big facility\u201d 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 \u201cmajor explosion\u201d in a dock area along Venezuela\u2019s shoreline where boats were loaded with drugs.
The CIA has declined to comment on reports<\/a> that it conducted a drone strike last week at a port facility in Venezuela. The White House has also declined to comment beyond Trump\u2019s 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.
\u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like it,\u201d 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\u2019s boat was destroyed along with their fishing nets.
\u201cWe are humble people who fish to survive,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need help to recover what we lost.\u201d
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\u2019s story in a telephone interview.
\u201cI don\u2019t know if it was a missile or a rocket. The truth is, we don\u2019t know what it was,\u201d the second witness said. \u201cBut it was a big explosion.\u201d
According to Ana, representatives from the Venezuelan government showed up the morning after she heard the blast \u2014 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: \u201cThe gringos did this.\u201d
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.
\u201cWe are grateful to be alive,\u201d Ana said. \u201cBut we\u2019re scared.\u201d
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.
\u201cI don\u2019t want to say that,\u201d he said. \u201cI know exactly who it was, but I don\u2019t want to say who it was. But you know, it was along the shore.\u201d
With details so scarce, Trump\u2019s comments have touched off a wave of speculation inside Venezuela about the U.S.\u2019 target. For days, local news reports and videos on social media<\/a> have circulated of a explosion last Wednesday in Maracaibo, a major port city.
Primazol, a chemical production company, said one of its warehouses <\/a>had caught fire. In a statement later<\/a>, it \u201ccategorically rejected\u201d rumors on social media that the fire was connected to any U.S. strike.
Gabe Gutierrez is a senior White House correspondent for NBC News.
Erika Angulo is a senior coordinating producer for NBC News.
© 2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeA 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.\u2019 escalating pressure campaign against the South American country.The arid coastal strip in the northwest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":195168,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-195167","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}