Venezuela “condemned” today the message from American President Donald Trump according to which Venezuela’s airspace should be considered “completely closed”, with Caracas calling it a “colonial threat”. “Venezuela denounces and condemns the colonial threat that supposedly affects the sovereignty of its airspace, thus constituting a new outrageous, illegal and unjustified attack against the people of Venezuela,” states a Foreign Ministry announcement.
Donald Trump’s statement comes as the United States intensifies pressure on Venezuela with a major deployment of its armed forces in the Caribbean, including the world’s largest aircraft carrier, and invokes ground strikes on Venezuelan territory as part of combating drug cartels.
Venezuela: Rejects Trump’s message
Venezuela “rejects in the most categorical way the message transmitted on social media by President Trump,” in which he claims to extraterritorially apply the illegal jurisdiction of the United States in Venezuela” the announcement continues, emphasizing that Trump “attempts in a paradoxical way to give orders and threaten the sovereignty of national airspace, territorial integrity, aviation security and the full sovereignty of the Venezuelan state”. “This type of statement constitutes a hostile, unilateral and arbitrary act, incompatible with the most basic principles of international law and is part of a continuous policy of aggression against our country,” the ministry adds.
Furthermore, Caracas estimates that with this announcement by Donald Trump, Washington “unilaterally suspends flights carrying Venezuelan migrants which are conducted regularly and weekly as part of the repatriation of Venezuelans” – irregular migrants in the United States.
“To date, 75 flights have been conducted for the repatriation of 13,956 people,” the announcement recalls. These flights continued despite the crisis between the two countries.
Donald Trump specifically accuses Venezuela of playing a central role in drug trafficking that floods the American market.
Caracas denies this and insists that the real objective is regime change and control of the country’s oil reserves.
Today, Maiquetía airport, which serves the capital Caracas, was operating normally, according to a French Press Agency reporter who witnessed several aircraft landings and takeoffs.
