Venezuela condemns US ‘double standard’ as migrant flight lands amid airline suspensions

As tensions with the United States escalate, Venezuela’s skies have grown increasingly complex.

Washington issued a commercial flight alert last week due to an “increase in military activity” in the region, prompting six airlines to suspend operations. 

At the same time, the White House requested special authorisations for repatriation flights, including the operation with which it deported 175 migrants this Wednesday — a contradiction that Caracas describes as a “double standard” by the Trump administration.

After six airlines suspended flights in response to a US Federal Aviation Administration alert — which urged carriers to “exercise extreme caution” in the area — Venezuela’s Ministry of Transport gave them a 48-hour deadline to resume operations, asserting that its airspace was safe. 

The airlines, however, did not lift the suspension, and when the deadline expired at noon on Wednesday, they lost their permits to operate in the country.

This measure involves revoking permits for the Spanish company Iberia, the Portuguese TAP, the Colombian Avianca, the Colombian branch of the Chilean-Brazilian Latam, the Brazilian GOL, and Turkish Airlines, according to Venezuela’s civil aviation authority.

Meanwhile, Copa, Wingo, Boliviana de Aviacion, and Satena continue to operate, as do the local airlines Avior and the state-owned Conviasa. Venezuelan carriers Laser and Estelar, however, announced the suspension of their flights to Madrid until December 1, following warnings issued by Spain’s Aeronautical Authority. Flight disruptions have affected more than 8,000 passengers on at least 40 flights, according to the National Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies.

In this context, Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello stated on Thursday that the Venezuelan Government is the one that “decides who flies and who doesn’t” and that it “reserves the right of admission,” criticising the alert issued by Washington and reinforcing the stance against foreign intervention. 

“Keep your planes, and we will keep our dignity,” Cabello added.

US plane with 175 migrants lands in Venezuela