Contained in the Strike: The US Munition That Hit a Residential Constructing in Venezuela

A Bellingcat investigation has recognized remnants of an AGM-88 sequence missile inside a three-storey condominium advanced that was hit in Catia La Mar through the US navy raid on Venezuela on Jan. 3, 2026 that reportedly killed no less than one civilian. 

Based on the Venezuelan unbiased media outlet, El Pitazo, Rosa Gonzalez, 79, was killed on this airstrike within the metropolis of Catia La Mar in La Guaira State, 30 km north of the capital Caracas. The assault reportedly left a second particular person severely wounded.

Bellingcat requested the US Division of Protection to substantiate our findings. Nonetheless, they acknowledged that “a Battle Injury Evaluation is ongoing”. We additionally reached out to the Division of State however they didn’t reply to our questions on the time of publication.

The Jan. 3 US assault on Venezuela focused a number of areas throughout the nation, together with navy installations and areas inside and across the capital, Caracas. US navy helicopters, jets and drones offered cowl for an assault power that landed at Fort Tiuna,  the most important navy advanced in Caracas; captured President Nicolas Maduro and First Woman Cilia Flores, and flew them in another country.

About 75 folks, together with civilians, had been killed within the operation, US officers accustomed to the matter informed the Washington Submit. Among the many navy fatalities had been 32 Cuban and 21 Venezuelan troopers, in line with numerous media reviews.

Based on El Pitazo, a second lady, Yohana Rodríguez Sierra, 45, was killed, and her daughter wounded, in different strikes at a communications station at Cerro El Volcán. A number of residential homes had been additionally reportedly destroyed within the close by space of La Boyera.

The navy operation in Caracas follows a sequence of assaults on alleged drug boats which have reportedly killed no less than 114 within the Caribbean Sea and the Japanese Pacific Ocean.

Figuring out the Munition

Bellingcat has discovered movies exhibiting the aftermath of the Catia La Mar assault and remnants of the munition filmed on the location. The strike destroyed some exterior partitions of 1 condominium advanced and brought on intensive harm to no less than two flats.

Bellingcat geolocated the condominium advanced to an space in Catia La Mar about 30 km north of Caracas (10.592796, -67.037721) and roughly 500 m east of a focused air defence storage inside a navy facility.

One video additionally reveals remnants of a munition. Based on an evaluation of visible proof by Bellingcat, the remnants seem to indicate an AGM-88 sequence missile.

One other remnant of the AGM-88 sequence missile seems in a video printed by Euronews. This remnant is a BSU-60 tail fin, that in line with an analyst notice on the Open Supply Munitions Portal (OSMP), is used solely with the AGM-88 sequence missile.

The AGM-88 HARM/AARGM sequence are American-produced air-to-surface missiles which are designed to hit ground-based radar-emitting targets, resembling air defence techniques just like the Buk-M2E utilized by Venezuela’s navy, with a number of of them destroyed through the US navy raid.

“Venezuela doesn’t function the AGM-88 HARM. Its F-16 acquisition occurred in 1983, when the US wouldn’t launch anti-radiation tech to the area,” Dr Andrei Serbin Pont, Worldwide Analyst and President of the Regional Coordinating Centre for Financial and Social Investigations, CRIES, informed Bellingcat. Later Israeli upgrades added guided munitions/AAMs, not ARMs, he stated.

Based on TheWarZone, Venezuela didn’t obtain any precision air-to-surface munitions, such because the AGM-88 sequence missiles. The Stockholm Worldwide Peace Analysis Institute (SIPRI) Arms Switch Database doesn’t report any transfers of AGM-88 missiles to Venezuela.

US Navy plane had been photographed within the area with AGM-88E AARGM missiles within the weeks earlier than the operation. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees, Common Caine, acknowledged that jets of this sort, designed to suppress and destroy air defences, took half within the operation.

Air Defence Programs Focused

The US struck a number of air defence techniques throughout Venezuela as a part of the operation, with Buk-M2E launchers being destroyed at  La Guaira Port, and the Higuerote and La Carlota airbases. Satellite tv for pc imagery from Vantor exhibits that the world close to a BuK-M2E storage constructing at Fort Guaicaipuro was additionally struck, however no air defence techniques can clearly be seen.

Based on satellite tv for pc imagery, Buk-M2E launchers seem to have been saved on the navy base roughly 500m from the residential constructing that was hit.

Bellingcat was not in a position to decide what brought on the missile to strike the condominium constructing or if Buk-2ME launchers at Catia La Mar or a unique system had been the meant goal. 

The AARGM variant is able to having designated missile “influence zones” and “avoidance zones” programmed to find out the place the missile can or can’t influence when used on missions, a characteristic added to “stop collateral harm”.

Bellingcat requested the US Division of Protection if any weapons used within the operation transmitted a weapons influence evaluation or different information that indicated they hit an unintended or civilian location. They stated {that a} Battle Injury Evaluation is ongoing.

Carlos Gonzales, Giancarlo Fiorella, Jake Godin, Trevor Ball and Youri van der Weide contributed to this report.

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