US President Donald Trump has warned 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 on Saturday, "please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY."
The US president did not elaborate.
Venezuela slammed the warning as a "colonialist threat" and called it the latest "extravagant, illegal and unjustified aggression against the Venezuelan people."
Major military deployment
Trump's administration is piling pressure on Venezuela, with a major military deployment in the Caribbean that includes the world's largest aircraft carrier.
The US says the aim is to curb drug trafficking, but Venezuela 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 at least 83 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 and experts say the strikes amount to extrajudicial killings even if they target known traffickers.
Raising the stakes further, Trump warned earlier this week that efforts to halt Venezuelan drug trafficking "by land" would begin "very soon."
Venezuela air travel disruptions
In recent days, constant activity by US fighter jets has been recorded just a few dozen kilometres off the Venezuelan coast, according to aircraft tracking websites.
The Dominican Republic, Venezuela's neighbour, also granted the United States permission this week to use airport facilities as part of its deployment, while the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, located only a few kilometres from Venezuela, recently hosted US Marine Corps exercises.
The tensions have now led to major disruptions in air travel to and from Venezuela.
US aviation authorities last week urged civilian aircraft operating in Venezuelan airspace to "exercise caution" due to the "worsening security situation and heightened military activity in or around Venezuela."
That warning prompted six airlines that account for much of the travel in South America to suspend flights to Venezuela.
The move infuriated Caracas and led it to ban the companies — Spain's Iberia, Portugal's TAP, Colombia's Avianca, Chile and Brazil's LATAM, Brazil's GOL and Turkish Airlines — for "joining the actions of state terrorism promoted by the United States government."
Leftist Maduro, whose re-election last year was widely rejected by the international community as fraudulent, believes the operation is secretly aimed at overthrowing him.
He has reacted defiantly, staging military exercises and mass rallies aimed at projecting strength and popular support.
The New York Times reported on Friday that Trump and Maduro 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.
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