1 of 3 | President Donald Trump on Saturday said the airspace around Venezuela should be considered closed, a move that could portend military action inside the country after months of the U.S. attacking alleged Venezuelan drug trafficking boats in international waters. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
President Donald Trump on Saturday morning warned that airspace over and around Venezuela is “closed in its entirety” as he mulls whether to strike the country amid a U.S. military build-up off its shore.
The move comes after massing naval vessels in the Caribbean, including the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and its strike group, and for weeks blowing boats out of the water that are allegedly being used for trafficking drugs.
“To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social early Saturday.
Trump, who spoke with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by phone this week, does not have the legal authority to close Venezuelan airspace but the announcement is sometimes made before airstrikes are launched in military campaigns.
The Trump administration has been deploying naval assets to the international waters near Venezuela and for months has been attacking alleged drug boats, killing at least 80 people, as more than a dozen warships and roughly 15,000 troops arrived in the region in recent months.
Over the course of the year, the administration has named named eight alleged Venezuelan drug cartels as terrorist organizations and designated them as global terrorists, with the most recent, Cartel de Los Soles, added to the list earlier this month.
Trump earlier this year authorized the CIA to operate inside Venezuela and has for weeks been considering whether to act militarily against the country, as opposed to the U.S. military strikes on alleged drug boats that have occurred in international waters.
Ahead of Trump’s post on Saturday morning, the Federal Aviation Administration had also warned pilots to be cautious when flying in Venezuelan airspace because of heightened military activity near the country.
Although the Truth Social post did not include details beyond closing Venezuela’s airspace, Trump did warn on Thursday that the U.S. could move toward expanding its operation in the area.
This week in Washington
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One on Tuesday. Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo
