Venezuela said it “denounces and condemns” the U.S. after President Donald Trump said the airspace around the South American country should be considered shuttered.
Trump’s remarks are a “colonialist threat” and a “new, extravagant, illegal and unjustified aggression” against Venezuela, Caracas’ foreign minister, Yván Gil Pinto, said in a statement posted to social media on Saturday.
Trump had said in a post to his Truth Social platform that “all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers” should consider Venezuela’s airspace “CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”
The U.S. president’s announcement came little over a week after the country’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned airlines of a “potentially hazardous situation” when flying over Venezuela, urging air crews to exercise caution when traveling in the area. Aircraft could be at risk when in the air, arriving or departing from the country, as well as when on the ground, the FAA said.
Multiple airlines then suspended flights to and from Venezuela.
This is a developing news story. More to follow.