What are the main Venezuelan ports and air hubs used for drug shipments to the U.S.?
Executive summary
Available reporting and analyses show Venezuela is primarily described as a transit corridor—not the main origin—of U.S.-bound cocaine, with identified departure points concentrated on Venezuela’s northern and western coasts and several interior clandestine airstrips; U.S. officials have cited ports, airstrips and coastal towns as nodes used by traffickers [1] [2] [3]. U.S. strikes and deployments in late 2025 have focused on maritime routes off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast—Margarita Island, Sucre and Falcón are repeatedly named in reporting as coastal pressure points—and U.S. sources also point to airfields and military facilities being implicated in alleged “air-bridge” operations [4] [5] [3].
1. Venezuela as transit corridor, not main producer — how reporters and institutions frame it
Multiple sources emphasize that most cocaine destined for North America originates in Andean producers and is not primarily routed through Venezuelan ports; UNODC and analysts describe Venezuela as a transit or secondary route that expanded as Colombian flows shifted, a view reflected in Military.com summarizing the UNODC “World Drug Report 2025” [1]. Independent analyses and fact-checking outlets likewise caution that experts see Venezuela’s role as significant in transit but not the principal origin of US fentanyl or the bulk of U.S.-bound cocaine [6] [7].
2. Maritime nodes: coastal states, islands and ports named in reporting
Journalistic accounts and NGO reporting point to maritime departure and transit points on Venezuela’s Caribbean littoral. Reports single out the states of Sucre and Falcón, Margarita Island (Nueva Esparta) and port towns such as Güiria—areas where traffickers have historically used coastal boats and where U.S. strikes have concentrated [4] [8] [5]. Military and press pieces say U.S. operations have specifically targeted vessels on known maritime transit routes off Venezuela’s northern coast [9] [10].
3. Air hubs and “air bridges”: airports, clandestine strips and military facilities
U.S. prosecutors and investigative pieces describe use of air routes and clandestine airstrips inside Venezuela to move cocaine northward, sometimes referencing an “air bridge” from Venezuelan air bases to Central America operated with assistance or acquiescence by elements of security forces [3] [5]. Transparencia-Venezuela’s mapping notes departure points in western states (Zulia, Falcón) and central states (La Guaira, Carabobo), where Venezuela’s main commercial ports and airports are located, as common nodes once the drugs enter Venezuelan territory [2].
4. Government, military and organized-crime entanglement: competing narratives
U.S. agencies and prosecutors have alleged involvement or permissive behavior by Venezuelan security forces and senior officials—framed in some reports as an informal “Cartel of the Suns” using state resources, including airfields and naval facilities [5] [3]. Venezuelan authorities and many analysts dispute or note the limits of public evidence; fact-checkers and NGO reviewers point out experts still see many unknowns and emphasize the complexity of proving state-directed national-level trafficking to the U.S. [7] [6].
5. U.S. military focus: why ports and airstrips became targets in 2025
The Trump administration publicly identified “targets that sit at the nexus of the drug gangs and the Maduro regime,” including ports and airstrips, and ordered a large Caribbean deployment and strikes against vessels to disrupt maritime traffic out of Venezuela [11] [5]. Reporting documents repeated U.S. claims that maritime routes were being suppressed and that traffickers shifted to air or land corridors when boats were interdicted [5] [4].
6. Evidence gaps, alternative explanations and the limits of public reporting
Available sources stress significant evidentiary limits: several outlets note the U.S. has not publicly released comprehensive proof linking the Venezuelan state as the principal supplier of drugs to the U.S., and independent analyses caution that most fentanyl comes from Mexico and most cocaine from Colombia—while Venezuela functions as a transit node [6] [1]. Transparency reports map likely departure points but acknowledge clandestine airstrips and covert maritime routes make definitive mapping difficult [2] [5].
7. What the sources do not say or cannot confirm
Available sources do not provide a definitive, publicly released list of specific Venezuelan ports or named military airbases that the U.S. has incontrovertibly proven are being used to ship drugs to the U.S. They also do not show clear public proof that Venezuela is the primary origin of fentanyl reaching the United States [6] [3].
Contextual takeaway: public reporting consistently points to Venezuela’s northern and western coastal nodes (Sucre, Falcón, Margarita Island, Güiria), main port/airport states (La Guaira, Carabobo, Zulia) and clandestine interior strips as important transit hubs rather than proven origin points—U.S. officials have escalated military action focused on maritime and air nodes while independent sources urge caution about gaps in public evidence [4] [2] [1] [6].