Venezuela this Saturday repudiated 'with absolute firmness' the message from the President of the United States, Donald Trump, warning that the South American country's airspace 'will remain completely closed,' and criticized that he 'unusually' attempts 'to give orders and threaten the sovereignty' of this nation. 'Venezuela demands the unrestricted respect of its airspace, protected under the norms of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO),' adds the note, which also emphasizes that this South American country 'will not accept orders, threats, or interference from any foreign power.' Venezuela urged to 'exercise extreme caution' when flying over Venezuela and the southern Caribbean due to what it considers a 'potentially dangerous situation' in the area, which led to a series of flight cancellations to and from Venezuela, which, in response, revoked operating permits to six international airlines. Trump's warning comes in the context of US 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.' '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 issued on Telegram by the Minister of Foreign Relations, Yván Gil. Furthermore, the government of President Nicolás Maduro denounced 'to 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.' 'No authority outside the Venezuelan institutional system has the power to interfere, block, or condition the use of national airspace,' added the Maduro administration. In this sense, the Maduro administration assured that with Trump's declaration, the United States has 'unilaterally suspended' the flights of Venezuelan migrants. 'To date, 75 repatriation flights have been carried out for 13,956 Venezuelan migrants who have been received with love and absolute solidarity,' adds the note, in reference to the agreement reached last January by both nations, which do not maintain diplomatic relations since 2019. Similarly, 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.' This Saturday, Trump published on his social network Truth Social: 'To all airlines, pilots, drug traffickers, and human traffickers: we ask you to consider that the airspace over Venezuela and its surroundings will remain completely closed. PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP,' without clarifying any circumstances related to the closure. The US leader spread the message after The New York Times reported on a supposed telephone conversation he held with Maduro to explore a possible meeting, although that contact has not been confirmed or denied by either party. The 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 the naval deployment in the Caribbean.
