Reports of a “mysterious explosion” have surfaced from Colombian media outlets, claiming that local Indigenous people in the western state of Zuila, Venezuela, witnessed an explosion of a local depot on Dec. 18, according to Revista Semana.
Images obtained by local news outlets reveal what appear to be missile fragments discovered by the local Wayuu peoples who inhabit an area in Alta Guajira in the Venezuelan state of Zuila, a small coastal region along Colombia’s eastern border.
The group claims to have witnessed a “mysterious explosion” at a nearby depot on the night of Dec. 18, about one week before a U.S. military strike on a suspected drug facility in the same region of Zuila state on Christmas Eve, an incident later confirmed by U.S. President Donald Trump during a radio interview on Dec. 30.
President Trump referred to the incident as a military strike on a dock area where the administration claims local drug traffickers load sea-faring vessels to transport large quantities of illicit narcotics into the United States.
🚨🇻🇪🇺🇸 | URGENTE/BREAKING: Images of reported missile fragments emerge from local Colombian media outlet after indigenous Wayuu peoples of western Venezuela say they witnessed a “mysterious explosion” at a depot in the western state of Zuila in Alta Guajira, a small coastal… pic.twitter.com/s2DdsD6L5g
— Sociedad Media (@sociedadmedia) January 2, 2026
The operation, later reported to have been conducted by the CIA, marks the first U.S. strike on Venezuelan territory since the Pentagon initiated a large-scale deployment of U.S. military assets in the South Caribbean, as part of a campaign to reduce the flow of illicit drug trafficking in the region, and to apply increasing pressure on the Venezuelan government of Nicolás Maduro.
Claims of the strike were later backed up by President Gustavo Petro of Colombia–a staunch critic of recent U.S. military actions in the Caribbean–who asserted that the U.S. Christmas Eve strike was carried out on a rebel enclave held by one of Colombia’s armed drug trafficking/rebel insurgent groups called the ELN, Ejército de Liberación Nacional, or the National Liberation Army.
Maduro is also under increasing pressure as the U.S. military executes additional seizures of sanctioned oil tankers linked to Venezuela and U.S. adversaries.
Maduro, 63, is now reportedly floating a deal with the Trump administration, offering to collaborate with Washington on oil concessions and to help crack down on illegal immigration.
