Caracas, December 11 (EFE). – The government of Venezuela announced Thursday that the United States has decided to “unilaterally” suspend the deportation flight of Venezuelan citizens scheduled for Friday.
Although U.S. authorities have warned of the alleged danger of overflights over Venezuela amid Washington’s military buildup near its shores, which has led to a massive suspension of international connections to and from Caracas, deportation flights from the U.S. to Venezuelan territory have so far continued regularly.
“This Thursday received the decision of the US government to unilaterally suspend the return of Venezuelan citizens whose return was scheduled for December 12,” the Interior Ministry said in a post on Instagram.
The statement added that “the suspension interrupts a process that was carried out in a coordinated manner and was an opportunity to alleviate the situation of fellow citizens detained and persecuted on U.S. soil.”
On November 29, US President Donald Trump declared that Venezuelan airspace would remain “totally closed” and the Venezuelan government canceled deportation flights.
Chavista Foreign Minister Yván Gil said on November 3 that Washington had “orally suspended the operation of these flights” but then requested them again, which led to their resumption.
The latest report this Thursday about the flight scheduled for December 12th raises doubts about the tensions between the United States and Venezuela, two countries without relations since 2019 but which have been operating two weekly deportation flights – on Wednesdays and Fridays – since January.
According to official figures, Venezuela has received 98 such flights since the agreement was signed earlier this year, most of them from the United States, but some also came from Mexico. Since US authorities warned on November 21 about the danger of flights over Venezuela and the southern Caribbean, at least three flights have arrived from the US and two from Mexico.
Recently, Trump declared that Maduro’s “days are numbered” and that he will soon begin ground operations in Venezuela as part of a military pressure campaign that he justifies as a means of combating drug trafficking and that has already left more than 80 people dead in U.S. attacks in the Caribbean and Pacific on boats allegedly transporting drugs.
The Interior Ministry assured in its statement that the suspension of the December 12 flight “contradicts the official discourse” of the United States “on the situation of migrants in its territory and creates uncertainty among Venezuelan families who were waiting to be reunited.”
In addition, he reiterated the Chavista government’s willingness to “welcome its citizens with open arms.”
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