Top Venezuelan Official Confirms Veracity of U.S. Boat Strike Days After Suggesting it was Fake News

Venezuela's Interior Minister and one of the most influential figures in the Chavismo movement, Diosdado Cabello, has shifted his account of the now infamous U.S. military strike in the Caribbean last week, confirming that the vessel destroyed was real just days after dismissing the incident as fabricated.

Cabello also stated on Thursday that those killed in the September 2 operation were not drug traffickers or members of the Tren de Aragua criminal group, as the U.S. government has alleged.

"We have done our investigations here in our country and there are the families of the missing persons claiming their relatives," said Cabello in remarks broadcast on state television reported by local news site Efecto Cocuyo. "When we asked in the towns, none is from the Tren de Aragua, nor is a drug trafficker nor was carrying drugs. An assassination has been committed against a group of citizens."

He also rejected U.S. claims that the boat was carrying narcotics, calling it a "tremendous lie." Cabello accused Washington of killing 11 people "without trial," questioning how U.S. authorities could have identified them as members of Tren de Aragua. He added that Venezuela must prepare for a "revolutionary war" against the United States, which maintains a naval deployment in the Caribbean.

Cabello's comments contrasted sharply with his own remarks on September 4, when he described the incident as "fake news" and a fabrication by the U.S. to justify regime change. At the time, he said the short video released by American officials raised more questions than answers and called it a "false positive" designed to discredit Venezuela. "The government of Donald Trump has not presented any kind of conclusive evidence after attacking the boat that supposedly carried drugs," Cabello said at the time.

The White House has defended the strike, saying it targeted a designated terrorist organization under the laws of armed conflict. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the operation sent "a clear message to traffickers" and that the drugs seized could have killed thousands of Americans, as The Miami Herald reports.

Cabello urged supporters to prepare for what he called an "armed struggle" to defend Venezuela's independence and sovereignty. "We have to move from a peaceful revolution to an armed revolution," he said.