President Donald Trump told airlines to consider Venezuela’s airspace closed, days after he vowed to take action on land “very soon.”
Following dozens of strikes against alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean that have killed more than 80 people since September, Trump suggested to military service members in a Thanksgiving Day phone call that the U.S. would soon take action “on land.”
On Saturday, he urged the clearing of the airspace near the South American country. “To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY,” the U.S. president wrote on Truth Social Saturday morning.
Over the weekend, the Federal Aviation Administration also warned airlines to “exercise caution” when flying over Venezuela “due to the worsening security situation and heightened military activity.”
Several airlines cancelled their flights as a result of the FAA’s warning.
Venezuela's government criticised Mr Trump's comments, describing them as a "colonialist threat" against the South American country's sovereignty and incompatible with international law.
The U.S. president's post "represents a hostile, unilateral and arbitrary act, incompatible with the principles of international law," the statement said.
It called on the international community to reject what it described as an immoral act of aggression.
Residents in Caracas called the decision unfair.
"I think it's unfair because people need to travel to work, to do business, to see their family, and us Venezuelans aren't at fault for these situations," said Manuel Romero, a cooking assistant.
Carmen Castillo, a lawyer, said she worried that many people won't be able to visit their families outside Venezuela for the holidays.
"We're confined, here in Caracas, in Venezuela. Of course it affects us," she said.
Last week, the White House was reportedly considering having U.S. military planes drop leaflets — containing details about the $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Nicolás Maduro — over Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, the Washington Post reported.
For months, the U.S. government has been building up a military presence in the region to curb what Trump administration officials call “narco-terrorists” and has also made it clear it wants to oust Maduro.
Maduro has been in power since 2013, following the death of Hugo Chavez. The U.S. is among more than 50 countries that have refused to recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s head of state, claiming he lost the 2024 presidential election. The State Department has offered rewards for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the Venezuelan president since 2020; the Trump administration raised the reward to $50 million this year.
The U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, which Trump alleges are fueled by Maduro’s government. Last month, the State Department designated Cartel de los Soles as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization,” claiming it's headed by Maduro and other high-ranking members of his “illegitimate” regime.
Days before the State Department designated Maduro to be the leader of a foreign terrorist organization, Trump and Maduro spoke on the phone, suggesting they meet, the New York Times reported Friday. Sources also told Axios this week that Trump is planning on speaking directly with Maduro.
Still, Trump has ramped up threats of military action against the country.
“In recent weeks, you’ve been working to deter Venezuelan drug traffickers, of which there are many,” Trump said on his Thanksgiving call to U.S. troops. “Of course, there aren’t too many coming in by sea anymore.”
“You probably noticed that people aren’t wanting to be delivering by sea, and we’ll be starting to stop them by land also. The land is easier, but that’s going to start very soon. We warn them: Stop sending poison to our country,” he added.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the series of strikes against alleged drug-carrying vessels in a Friday social media post.
“The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization,” he wrote. “The Trump administration has sealed the border and gone on offense against narco-terrorists. Biden coddled terrorists, we kill them.”
Hegseth insisted the strikes were “lawful” as legal experts, former national security officials, and members of Congress have shared their concerns over the president’s claim that he has legal authority to launch extrajudicial killings against the alleged drug traffickers.
“Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command,” the defense secretary wrote.
In September, Hegseth reportedly gave a verbal order to leave no survivors behind during the first such strike. When two survivors emerged from the wreckage, a Special Operations commander overseeing the attack ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions to “kill everybody,” sources told The Washington Post.
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