Trump tells airlines Venezuelan airspace should be considered closed
US President Donald Trump said the airspace around Venezuela should be considered closed.
“To all airlines, pilots, drug traffickers and human traffickers, please consider that the airspace over and around Venezuela is closed in its entirety,” Trump said in a social media post.
The United States does not legally have the authority to close another country’s airspace, but Trump’s stance could cause travel uncertainty and deter airlines from operating there.
The United States has increased its military presence in the Caribbean, in an effort officials say is to combat drug trafficking. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has rejected US allegations of drug trafficking, calling them an attempt to oust him.
Venezuela has not yet responded to Trump’s remarks. The White House did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment.
Trump’s comments come days after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned airlines of “increased military activity in and around Venezuela.”
Venezuela on Wednesday banned six major international airlines – Iberia, TAP Portugal, Gol, Latam, Avianca and Turkish Airlines – from landing there after failing to meet a 48-hour deadline to resume flights.
The United States has deployed the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, and about 15,000 troops within range of Venezuela.
He insisted the deployment – the largest by the United States to the region since its invasion of Panama in 1989 – was aimed at combating drug trafficking.
On Thursday, Trump warned that U.S. efforts to stop Venezuelan drug trafficking “by land” would begin “very soon.”
US forces have carried out at least 21 strikes against boats they say were carrying drugs, killing more than 80 people. However, the United States has not provided proof that the boats were carrying drugs.
The Venezuelan government believes the goal of the U.S. action is to remove Maduro, whose re-election last year was denounced by the Venezuelan opposition and many foreign countries as rigged.
The United States has also designated the Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns – a group it says is led by Maduro – as a foreign terrorist organization.
Labeling an organization a terrorist group gives U.S. law enforcement and military agencies broader powers to target and dismantle it.
The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry “categorically, firmly and absolutely rejected” this designation.
The Venezuelan Minister of Interior and Justice, Diosdado Cabello, considered one of the high-ranking members of the cartel, has long called it an “invention”.
The U.S. State Department has insisted that the Cartel de los Soles not only exists, but has “corrupted Venezuela’s military, intelligence, legislature, and judicial system.”
