Two members of Venezuela’s Wayuu indigenous community in the area told NBC News that they witnessed an unexplained explosion on Dec. 18 that destroyed a hut that possibly was used for storage.

Chinese oil tankers are pressing ahead with Venezuela-linked voyages despite a U.S. blockade and an escalating campaign of tanker seizures. Two Chinese-flagged VLCCs are operating near Venezuelan waters,

President Donald Trump has indicated that the U.S. has “hit” a dock facility along a shore as he wages a pressure campaign on Venezuela.

At least two oil tankers have made their way to Venezuela in recent days and others are navigating towards the country, a sign of state-run PDVSA's effort to expand floating storage and keep selling crude even as a U.

The strike is the first the U.S. is known to have carried out inside Venezuela amid its escalating pressure campaign.

The drone attack, said to be on a dock where drugs were being prepared for loading on boats, represented a further escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign against Nicolás Maduro.

President Donald Trump's administration says its efforts over the past week are meant to stop the flow of drugs into the U.S. and increase pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro