U.S. President Donald Trump issued a warning on Saturday that the airspace above and near Venezuela should be considered closed, the latest escalation in a standoff with leftist leader Nicolás Maduro.
“To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network, “please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”
The statement comes as Trump’s administration piles pressure on Venezuela with a major military deployment in the Caribbean that includes the world’s largest aircraft carrier. Washington says the aim is curbing drug trafficking, but Caracas insists regime change is the ultimate goal.
U.S. forces have carried out strikes against more than 20 alleged Venezuelan drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since early September, killing more than 80 people.
The New York Times reported that Trump and Maduro had spoken by phone last week and discussed a possible meeting in the United States. The report about the Trump-Maduro call came a day after the U.S. president said efforts to halt Venezuelan drug trafficking by land were imminent, further ratcheting up tensions with Caracas.
