President Donald Trump said Saturday morning that Venezuela’s airspace should be considered “closed” as he weighs military action against the South American nation.
“To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Venezuela’s government said it “forcefully rejects” Trump’s claim about closing the airspace and that it was a “colonial threat” intended to undermine the country’s “territorial integrity, aeronautical security and full sovereignty.”
The Foreign Ministry said “such declarations constitute a hostile, unilateral and arbitrary act.”
Flight-tracking data appeared to show a handful of planes still above the country on Saturday morning.
A number of airlines began rerouting flights away from Venezuela’s airspace earlier this month, and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has issued a warning of “heightened military activity” in the area.
On Wednesday, Venezuela’s civil aviation authority stripped takeoff and landing rights from six commercial carriers it accused of “joining the actions of state terrorism promoted by the United States government and unilaterally suspending air commercial operations.”
On Thursday, Trump said the U.S. could “very soon” begin targeting alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers on land, expanding operations that have so far focused on vessels in the Caribbean Sea.
In Thanksgiving remarks to U.S. troops around the world, Trump thanked the Air Force’s 7th Bomb Wing for its work to “deter Venezuelan drug traffickers” and said “it’s about 85% stopped by sea … and we’ll be starting to stop them by land.”
“Also, the land is easier, but that’s going to start very soon,” the president added, speaking from his Mar-a-Lago estate.
For months, the president has intensified the United States’ military presence in the region, ramping up pressure on Venezuela with strikes on alleged drug boats since early September. The military has carried out nearly two dozen known strikes on vessels that officials said were carrying drugs, killing at least 82 people.
The USS Gerald R. Ford, a major aircraft carrier, arrived in the Caribbean last week, rounding out a buildup of U.S. military forces in the region that has not been seen for decades.
The U.S. last week also designated the Cartel de los Soles, a group Washington alleges is run by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, as a foreign terrorist organization.
Maduro has denied having any ties to the drug trade and has accused the U.S. of “fabricating” a war against him.
