The reaction from Caracas to Donald Trump’s announcement of a complete closure of Venezuelan airspace was immediate. About four hours after the US President’s warning, the Venezuelan government responded with a statement calling the announcement a “hostile, unilateral and arbitrary act.” Venezuela considers this an “explicit threat to use force.”
The text is strong: “This type of statement is part of a permanent aggressive policy against our country, with colonial claims on our region in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a denial of international law.”
This statement is a reaction to the thousandth chapter of the attack that the United States will launch against Venezuela In escalation In recent weeks. In another attempt to increase pressure, Trump announced on Saturday on his social network “Truth” that the airspace “over and around” the country should be considered “totally closed.” “To all airlines, pilots, drug traffickers and human traffickers: we ask you to consider that the airspace over Venezuela and its surrounding areas will remain completely closed,” he said in his letter.
Trump did not provide further details about the scope of this measure or how it would be implemented. But in practice, this amounts to another exercise in isolating the Latin American country.
In its statement, Venezuela claims that it rejects “with absolute force” the United States’ attempt to apply “illegitimate extraterritorial jurisdiction of the United States in Venezuela,” by trying to “issue orders and threaten” the sovereignty of its airspace, territorial integrity and aviation security.
Trump’s announcement comes in the context of growing tension: several airlines have already suspended for at least a week their operations with Venezuela, after an alert from the US Air Force due to increased military activity and security risks in the region. Following the warning, air traffic was practically paralyzed, to which the Venezuelan government responded by revoking the licenses of several international airlines – including Iberia, Avianca, LATAM, Turkish Airlines and GOL – which stopped operating to and from Venezuela.
The question is whether the announcement of the closure of Venezuela’s airspace – which Trump claims is the case – is actually a prelude to a military attack.
Nicolas Maduro’s government considers that “no authority outside Venezuelan institutions has the authority to interfere, prevent, or require the use of national airspace,” stressing that it will not accept “orders, threats, or interference from any foreign power.” He directly accuses Washington of “unilaterally suspending the flights of Venezuelan migrants” within the “Vuelta a la Patria” plan, a program in which – according to the same text – “75 flights were carried out to repatriate 13,956 Venezuelan migrants.”
The program to repatriate Venezuelan migrants from the United States was the last political link maintained by the governments of both countries in the context of this crisis, which worsened after the controversial presidential elections held in Venezuela in July 2024 in which Maduro announced his re-election amid accusations of fraud.
The statement continues with a “direct call to the international community, to the sovereign governments of the world, to the United Nations and to the corresponding multilateral organizations” to reject what it described as “this aggressive and immoral act.” He also stressed that Venezuela “will know how to respond with dignity, legitimacy and with all the strength that international law and the anti-imperialist spirit give” to the Venezuelan people.
On Saturday, a group of planes were still operating in Venezuelan airspace, according to flight tracking website Flightradar. These are mostly small planes, small planes and private jets, but also some domestic flights by passenger aircraft, according to information from the air platform.
A strange calm prevails in the streets of Caracas and the rest of the country during these hours. The topic of possible US intervention on Venezuelan territory is a topic of whispered discussion at social gatherings and street meetings, but is sometimes treated with sarcasm and skepticism by many people.