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Trump vs Nicolas Maduro: Venezuela calls US leader's ‘closed airspace’ remark a ‘colonialist threat’
The US has stepped up pressure on Venezuela in recent months as part of a counter-narcotics effort aimed at drug trafficking.
A fresh row has erupted over US President Donald Trump’s recent threats against Venezuela after he said that airlines should consider the airspace above and around the country to be “closed in its entirety”. Venezuela, meanwhile, responded to the threats and called Trump’s comments as a “colonialist threat” against them.
In a post on his Truth Social network, Trump wrote, “To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY”.
Notably, the US has stepped up pressure on Caracas in recent months as part of a counter-narcotics effort aimed at drug trafficking, which the Trump administration says is being led by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government.
The Trump administration has also officially listed Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organisation, which the US cites as the legal basis for some actions. Meanwhile, Venezuela says this claim is untrue and is being used to justify an intervention.
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Venezuela hits back at Trump
Venezuela, which sees the recent US military buildup in the Caribbean as an attempt to pressure and oust Maduro, criticised Trump’s warning and called it a “colonialist threat”.
In a statement, the Venezuelan foreign ministry described the US president’s comments as “new extravagant, illegal, and unjustified aggression against the people of Venezuela.”
It warned that the disruptions to airspace would bring repatriation flights of Venezuelan migrants from the United States to a stop, a programme the Trump administration has promoted
On Saturday, Venezuela’s military carried out drills along the coast, and state television showed anti-aircraft weapons and other artillery being moved, AFP reported.
Trump vs Venezuela’s Maduro
Trump’s warning came days after US aviation officials advised airlines to take extra care near Venezuelan airspace due to rising tensions, leading several major carriers to suspend services.
Notably, Maduro’s government responded by banning those airlines for “joining the actions of state terrorism promoted by the United States government.”
While Trump has not openly said he would use force to remove Maduro, he said earlier this week that efforts to stop Venezuelan drug trafficking “by land” would begin “very soon.”
Maduro’s re-election last year was rejected by much of the international community as fraudulent, and Washington also claims that the leader heads an alleged drug cartel labelled as a terrorist group.
With inputs from agencies
