Venezuela accused US President Donald Trump of making a “colonialist threat” after he said airspace around the country should be considered closed.
The country’s Foreign Ministry called Trump’s comments “another extravagant, illegal and unjustified aggression against the Venezuelan people.”
The United States does not legally have the authority to close another country’s airspace, but Trump’s online post could create travel uncertainty and deter airlines from operating there.
The United States has been strengthening its military presence in the Caribbean, which officials say is aimed at combating drug smuggling. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has dismissed US accusations of drug trafficking as an attempt to overthrow him.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “To all airlines, pilots, drug dealers and human traffickers, please consider that AIRSPACE OVER AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA IS COMPLETELY CLOSED.”
The White House did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment.
Trump’s comments come days after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned airlines about “increased military activity in and around Venezuela.”
Venezuela on Wednesday banned six major international airlines (Iberia, TAP Portugal, Gol, Latam, Avianca and Turkish Airlines) from landing there after they failed to meet a 48-hour deadline to resume flights.
The United States has deployed the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, and about 15,000 troops a short distance from Venezuela.
He has insisted that the deployment – the largest by the United States in the region since it invaded Panama in 1989 – is aimed at combating drug trafficking.
On Thursday, Trump warned that US efforts to stop Venezuelan drug trafficking “overland” would begin “very soon.”
US forces have carried out at least 21 attacks on ships they said were carrying drugs, killing more than 80 people. However, the United States has provided no evidence that the ships were carrying drugs.
The Venezuelan government believes the goal of the U.S. action is to depose Maduro, whose re-election last year was denounced by the Venezuelan opposition and many foreign nations as fraudulent.
The United States has also designated the Cartel of the Suns (a group allegedly led by Maduro) as a foreign terrorist organization.
Labeling an organization a terrorist group gives U.S. military and law enforcement agencies broader powers to target and dismantle it.
The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry has “categorically, firmly and absolutely” rejected the designation.
Venezuela’s Minister of the Interior and Justice, Diosdado Cabello, who is allegedly one of the cartel’s high-ranking members, has long called it an “invention.”
The US State Department has insisted that the Cartel of the Suns not only exists, but has “corrupted Venezuela’s military, intelligence, legislative branch and judiciary.”
