Even the drums of war in Venezuela are not enough to stop the aggressive deportation agenda Donald Trump. The United States continues to charter flights to repatriate Venezuelan migrants heading to La Guaira despite the White House resident’s intention to completely close the airspace of the South American country. They are not incompatible goals.
government Nicolas MaduroIran, which assumed that its announcement last Saturday would lead to a suspension of repatriations, going so far as to suggest that the United States had “unilaterally” frozen the aforementioned flights, appears to have no other options but to accept the return of its citizens in an atmosphere charged with daily threats of attacks.
For this reason, the Venezuelan government allowed the landing at Maiquetia Airport, which serves Caracas, a Boeing 777-200 operated by Oriental Airlines that took off on Wednesday from Phoenix (Arizona). The authorities did not specify the number of migrants traveling on the plane.
The Venezuelan Ministry of Transport had announced the previous day that “the Venezuelan Aviation Authority has received a request from the United States government to resume flights to return migrants from that country to Venezuela.”
The Venezuelan analyst confirms in a conversation with this newspaper that “the White House’s first priority is to continue mass deportations. This means that the continuation of this policy is above any other policy, including hostile rhetoric against Venezuela.” Carolina Jimenez SandovalHead of the Washington Office for Latin American Affairs (WOLA).
The statement added that the repatriation flights, which were carried out twice a week, would be able to fly over Venezuelan airspace “as was the case weekly on Wednesdays and Fridays.”
According to Venezuelan government figures, nearly 14,000 migrants have returned to the country on charter flights since the Trump administration launched migrant deportations last February.
The resumption of repatriation operations shows that communication channels between Washington and Caracas remain in place despite continued threats from Trump and the head of the Pentagon. Pete HegsethWhich accuses Maduro of leading the Sun Cartel, an alleged criminal network that smuggles drugs to the US border. This is an accusation that Maduro categorically rejects.
In fact, during the weekly Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the White House resident once again mentioned the possibility of starting ground attacks against Venezuela “very soon.”
“You know, the Earth is much easier, much easier. We know the routes they take. We know everything about them. We know where they live. We know where the bad guys live,” declared the US President, who said, according to the New York Times. Miami HeraldHe offered the Chavista leader an honorable departure from the country. An offer that Maduro would have rejected.
Donald Trump during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
Trump’s message last Saturday, in which he confirmed that Venezuelan airspace could be considered “completely closed,” was a new setback for Caracas in the military escalation initiated by Washington. The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry responded by saying: “No authority outside Venezuelan institutions has the authority to interfere, prevent or impose conditions on the use of national airspace.”
But the words of the White House tenant have caused a torrent of flight cancellations in Venezuela. Since Monday, the country has only received flights from Cuba, Curacao, Colombia, Panama and Russia, according to data from the Flightradar24 portal.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) at the end of November urged “exercise caution” when flying over Venezuela and the southern Caribbean. But air attacks against suspected drug boats off the coast of Venezuela, which have killed at least 83 people, have not reduced the pace of planes arriving with deported migrants. It does not seem that the situation will change Trump’s road map.