U.S. Officials Say American Intelligence and Drones Backed Deadly Strike on ELN Camp in Venezuela

A strike hit a camp of Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) in the Venezuelan state of Apure on Friday, Oct. 30. The camp sat near the Colombian border.

Four U.S. officials told The New York Times that the operation had American intelligence and drone support. A senior Venezuelan military officer also confirmed the attack to the paper. Venezuela's government has not officially reported on it.

What happened in Apure

The rights group Fundaredes was the first to raise the alarm. It counted 23 dead and an undetermined number of wounded. Other local accounts put the toll at around 20.

The target was an ELN base used as a cocaine distribution center, according to testimony the Times collected from survivors and residents. Residents of Puerto Páez, an area the ELN controls, described a bombing. Photos of the dead circulated in WhatsApp groups.

Local reporters from Alianza Rebelde Investiga identified eight of the dead using records from the morgue, the hospital and the San Fernando de Apure cemetery. Two were Colombians and four were Mexicans. The ELN is designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

The notes leave one question open: who actually flew the drones. The U.S. officials described intelligence and drone support, which is not the same as American aircraft pulling the trigger. Breitbart's account says U.S. forces carried out the strikes while the Venezuelan military moved in to secure the area. That version rests on one outlet's description.

Civilians and combatants

Fundaredes disputes the idea that everyone at the site was a fighter. The group said the dead included suppliers, pilots and relatives. Not all victims were identified as combatants, according to the rights group's account.

That claim is unverified, and so is the opposite one. Venezuela has published no casualty breakdown, and no government has released evidence of who was in the camp.

The interior and justice minister, Diosdado Cabello, said only that he had deployed the scientific police, according to El País. He gave no account of the strike itself.

A pattern since January

This follows a sequence that began on Jan. 3, when U.S. forces captured then-president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Maduro is in U.S. custody awaiting trial on drug charges. Delcy Rodríguez has served as interim president since then.

If the Apure strike is confirmed, it would be the second operation of its kind on Venezuelan soil. The first came in June, when an airstrike in Bolívar state's gold mining region killed Héctor Guerrero Flores, known as "Niño Guerrero," leader of Tren de Aragua. Donald Trump announced that on social media the day after residents reported security operations in the area.

The U.S. campaign has escalated from attacks on vessels off the coasts of Venezuela and Colombia to ground operations. Breitbart describes the broader effort as the "Shield of the Americas," which it says has recruited more than a dozen Latin American countries.

Venezuela's turn on the ELN

The ELN operated in Venezuela for years under Hugo Chávez and Maduro. Reports from the Venezuelan side describe the group using the territory to traffic cocaine and gold, control airstrips and run extortion, and to launch attacks into Colombia. Irregular Colombian armed groups have set up operations in Venezuela amid inaction from Venezuelan authorities, according to El País.

A strike with Caracas's participation marks a sharp reversal, whatever the exact division of labor. Whether it reflects a real change in Venezuelan policy or one operation under U.S. pressure is not established by anything on the record.

Troops next?

The New York Times also reported that Washington and Caracas are evaluating a deployment of U.S. troops in Venezuela. No decision has been announced.

Drone support and intelligence are one thing. American boots on Venezuelan ground, in a country run by an interim government that came to power after a U.S. raid, are a different commitment with different risks.

Venezuela has not given a public accounting of the Apure strike or a public position on a troop presence. Both are outstanding.