Colombian President Gustavo Petro claimed Tuesday that a recent U.S. attack in Venezuela targeted a facility operated by the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla, contradicting U.S. reports that the strike was aimed at the “Tren de Aragua” gang, but provided no evidence for his claim.
Petro’s statement adds a third conflicting narrative to an incident that took place on Dec. 24 in the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo. While the Trump administration and U.S. media have described a CIA drone strike on a “dock area” used for drug trafficking, and the facility’s owners attribute the destruction to an accidental fire, Petro asserted the site was a factory used by the Colombian armed group to process cocaine.
“We know that Trump bombed a factory in Maracaibo,” Petro wrote on the social media platform X. “We fear that they mix coca paste there to make it cocaine and take advantage of the location on the Maracaibo sea.”
Conflicting accounts of the alleged US strike against ELN in Venezuela
The previously reported incident occurred in the early hours of Dec. 24. President Donald Trump, in a radio interview on Dec. 26, stated the U.S. had “knocked out” a “big facility” two nights before. U.S. media outlets, citing intelligence sources, later confirmed this was a CIA drone operation targeting a logistics hub for “Tren de Aragua,” a Venezuelan criminal organization.
However, Petro contends the target of the U.S. strike in Venezuela was ELN, a Colombian leftist guerrilla group, but it has expanded operations into Venezuela. “It is simply ELN,” Petro wrote. “ELN is allowing, with its trafficking and mental dogma, the invasion of Venezuela.”
Resulta que muchas lanchas atacadas con misiles, como está pasando en las incautaciones.que hacemos en Colombia o, con ayuda nuestra fuera de Colombia, no llevaban cocaína sino cannabis.
Problema paradójico: en EEUU, en muchísimas partes es legal. Y el Congreso de Colombia no… https://t.co/EJb6yxZKat
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) December 30, 2025
Complicating the matter further, Primazol, the Venezuelan chemical company that owns the facility in the municipality of San Francisco, Zulia, has categorically denied being the target of a military strike. In a statement released Dec. 29, the company insisted the destruction was caused by an accidental electrical fire in a raw materials warehouse. “We reject the malicious versions circulating on social media,” the company stated.
Geopolitics of the Colombian-Venezuelan Border
Petro used the incident to issue a sharp rebuke to ELN, with whom his government is currently attempting to negotiate a peace deal. The talks are currently frozen.
The president highlighted the connection between the Catatumbo region in Colombia, a major coca-producing area on the border, and the export routes through Venezuela.
“ELN in Catatumbo … must decide if it is going to compete for cocaine or for peace,” Petro stated, noting that the group benefits from airstrips and infrastructure in the Venezuelan state of Zulia to move drugs toward Central America.
Petro defends himself against US accusations
The Colombian president also used his lengthy statement to defend himself against the Trump administration, which recently revoked his visa and sanctioned him based on allegations of ties to drug trafficking. Petro denied U.S. accusations that he acts as a “figurehead” for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
“Trump has been led to believe that I am Maduro’s figurehead,” Petro wrote, questioning the quality of U.S. intelligence. “My last telephone conversation with Maduro was about how to jointly strike ELN on the border.”
Petro also cast doubt on the effectiveness of the U.S. naval blockade in the Caribbean, which has resulted in more than 100 deaths. He alleged that the small boats being destroyed by U.S. forces are carrying cannabis, not cocaine. The cocaine, Petro argued, “is passing in submarines and containers.”