WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump issued a warning on Saturday that the airspace above and near Venezuela should be considered closed, the latest escalation in a standoff with leftist leader Nicolas Maduro.
“To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network, “please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”
The US president did not elaborate.
The statement comes as Trump’s administration piles pressure on Venezuela with a major military deployment in the Caribbean that includes the world’s largest aircraft carrier.
Washington says the aim is curbing drug trafficking, but Caracas insists regime change is the ultimate goal.
US forces have carried out strikes against more than 20 alleged Venezuelan drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since early September, killing more than 80 people.
Washington has yet to release evidence that the vessels it targeted were used to smuggle drugs or posed a threat to the United States.
Regional tensions have flared as a result of the campaign and the accompanying military buildup.
The New York Times reported Friday that the two leaders had spoken by phone last week and discussed a possible meeting in the United States.
The report about the Trump-Maduro call came a day after the US president said efforts to halt Venezuelan drug trafficking by land were imminent, further ratcheting up tensions with Caracas.
