Caracas has denounced United States President Donald Trump’s announcement that the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela is to be considered closed “in its entirety”, as tensions between the countries escalate.
According to Al Jazeera, in a statement on Saturday afternoon, the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Trump’s statement earlier in the day amounts to a “colonialist threat.”
“Venezuela denounces and condemns the colonialist threat that seeks to affect the sovereignty of its airspace, constituting yet another extravagant, illegal and unjustified aggression against the Venezuelan people,” the ministry said.
Trump had written on his Truth Social platform on Saturday morning: “To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”
The post came amid weeks of escalating rhetoric by senior US officials against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his government.
While the Trump administration has said it is targeting Venezuela as part of a push to combat drug trafficking, experts and human rights observers have warned that Washington appears to be laying the groundwork for an attempt to unlawfully remove Maduro from power.
The US has deployed an aircraft carrier to the Caribbean and carried out a series of deadly bombings on vessels it accused of being involved in drug trafficking, killing dozens of people in what United Nations experts have described as extrajudicial killings.
Earlier this week, Trump also warned that he would start targeting Venezuelan drug trafficking “by land” soon.
