Tensions in South America
Trump: Airspace over Venezuela is considered closed
Updated 11/29/2025 – 9:58 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Donald Trump has been toughening his tone towards the South American country for weeks – now he wants no more planes to fly there.
Against the backdrop of tensions with Venezuela, US President Donald Trump has announced that he is declaring the airspace over the South American country closed. “To all airlines, pilots, drug dealers and human smugglers, please keep the airspace over and around Venezuela completely closed,” Trump wrote on his social network Truth Social.
It was not immediately clear whether there would be any direct consequences from the posting. According to international law, countries have the right to independently determine their airspace, explains the international air traffic controllers association IFATCA on its website. Venezuela strongly condemned Trump’s message, calling it a “hostile act.”
The Venezuelan government had previously revoked the operating licenses of six foreign airlines in the country. Numerous international airlines had recently temporarily suspended their connections to Venezuela after the US Aviation Authority (FAA) called for particular caution when flying to Caracas Airport due to the poor security situation and increased military activity.
Trump has been tightening his tone and approach towards the South American country for weeks. The United States had gathered additional soldiers in the Caribbean and withdrawn the world’s largest aircraft carrier “USS Gerald R. Ford” from the Mediterranean and relocated it to the region – accompanied by other warships and a long-range bomber. According to the government in Washington, the operation is aimed at combating drug smugglers.
Given these rising tensions, there has been speculation that an attack on targets in Venezuela could be imminent. It was suspected that the US government might be seeking a change of power in Caracas.
In its reaction to Trump’s comments on airspace, the Foreign Ministry in Caracas now stated that this also means that Washington has unilaterally decided not to send any more deportation flights of migrants to Venezuela. According to Venezuelan data, a total of almost 14,000 migrants have been sent back to Venezuela on 75 flights on a weekly basis since March – even amid tensions with Washington. Most recently, a flight with 136 migrants returned from the US state of Arizona landed in Caracas on Friday, the media reported.
Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez accused the United States of “persistent electromagnetic interference” in the region given its increased military presence in Caribbean airspace. Such interference can affect aircraft communications and navigation systems. Venezuela is particularly affected by this, Rodríguez wrote on Platform X. This is part of the escalation of Washington’s “military aggression and psychological warfare” against Caracas, criticized the Cuban minister.
