VENEZUELAN President Nicolas Maduro has hailed the downing of more drug-traffickers’ planes along his country’s borders with Colombia and Brazil.

“A record! Nine foreign drug-trafficking aircraft were neutralised in 24 hours. I congratulate our [armed forces] for remaining vigilant. We are closing out a year of offensive operations against criminal gangs and all enemies of the homeland,” he said on Tuesday.

This took the total number of traffickers’ aircraft destroyed in 2025 to 39, the president said.

Bolivarian armed forces (FANB) strategic operational commander Domingo Hernandez said the operation near the border with Brazil also found and destroyed four camps.

He said the aircraft were operating from illegal clandestine runways. In another operation, the Venezuelan military destroyed an aircraft in Apure that did not have the required permits to be in the country or an approved flight plan.

Venezuela seized more than 52,000 kilos of illegal drugs in 2025, the FANB reported today.

Military authorities said the action was part of a sustained campaign against narco-trafficking structures.

It follows months of US destabilisation efforts, which Washington claims are to combat drug-running.

They escalated last week when US drones hit a dock on Venezuelan territory allegedly used by cartels. The Associated Press news agency reported today that the CIA was behind the attack.

US President Donald Trump had refused to say whether the military or CIA was responsible. But he revealed in October that he had authorised CIA action in Venezuela.

He said at the time: ““I authorised for two reasons, really. Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America. And the other thing, the drugs, we have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela, and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea.”

Mr Trump’s aggression has sparked a furious reaction across the region.

On Tuesday, 15 communist parties and social movements from Latin America and the Caribbean issued a joint statement blasting the “comprehensive regime of aggression” emanating from Washington.

The parties point out that the blockade has been “repeatedly condemned by United Nations bodies and rapporteurs,” accusing the US of inflicting “collective punishment” on the Venezuelan people.

Signatories demanded the lifting of the blockade and urged their governments to reject Washington’s meddling.