Venezuela Closes Airspace in Response to Trump's Threats

Venezuela vehemently repudiated on Saturday the message from U.S. President Donald Trump, warning that the South American country's airspace 'will remain completely closed,' and criticized that he 'oddly' attempts 'to give orders and threaten the sovereignty' of this nation. 'Venezuela demands unrestricted respect for its airspace, protected under the norms of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO),' the note adds, which also emphasizes that this South American country 'will not accept orders, threats, or interference from any foreign power.' On Saturday, Trump posted on his social network Truth Social: 'To all airlines, pilots, drug traffickers, and human traffickers: we ask that you consider that the airspace over Venezuela and its surroundings will remain completely closed.' He urged to 'exercise extreme caution' when flying over Venezuela and the southern Caribbean due to what he considers a 'potentially dangerous' situation in the area, which led to a series of flight cancellations to and from Venezuela, which, in response, revoked the operating permits of six international airlines. News of the conversation came a day after Trump warned that his Armed Forces will act 'very soon' on land against supposed 'Venezuelan drug traffickers,' while maintaining its naval deployment in the Caribbean. Trump's warning comes in the context of U.S. bombings against boats in the Caribbean, which have caused several deaths and that Washington defends as part of its fight against drug trafficking, but that Caracas denounces as a 'threat.' In this sense, the Maduro Administration assured that with Trump's declaration, the United States 'has unilaterally suspended flights for Venezuelan migrants.' 'This type of statement constitutes a hostile, unilateral, and arbitrary act, incompatible with the most elementary principles of International Law and that is part of a permanent policy of aggression against our country, with colonial pretensions over our Latin American region,' reads a communiqué disseminated on Telegram by the Minister of Foreign Relations, Yván Gil. 'No authority outside the Venezuelan institutional system has the power to interfere, block, or condition the use of national airspace,' he added. Furthermore, the government of President Nicolás Maduro 'denounced before the world' that such statements 'represent an explicit threat of the use of force,' which, it ensures, is 'clearly and unequivocally prohibited' by the United Nations Charter, and considered it an 'attempt at intimidation.' Likewise, it makes a call to the international community, to the 'sovereign Governments of the world,' to the United Nations and international organizations 'to firmly reject this act' that it described as 'immoral.' 'To this date, 75 repatriation flights of 13,956 Venezuelan migrants have been carried out, who have been received with absolute love and solidarity,' the note adds, in reference to the agreement reached last January by both nations, which do not maintain diplomatic relations since 2019. PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP,' without clarifying any circumstances related to the closure. The U.S. leader disseminated the message after The New York Times reported a supposed phone conversation he held with Maduro to explore a possible meeting, although that contact has not been confirmed or denied officially by either party. Thank you for your attention! On November 21, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)...