Venezuela’s Government has denounced threats by the United States to close its airspace.
Yesterday, Caracas condemned what it described as a “colonialist threat” after US President Donald Trump released information announcing that Venezuelan airspace was blocked, a move Venezuela said amounted to an attempt to “give orders and threaten the sovereignty of the national airspace.”
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil issued a statement insisting that “this type of declaration constitutes a hostile, unilateral and arbitrary act, incompatible with the most basic principles of international law.”
The statement further argued that the US pronouncement represents “an explicit threat of the use of force, clearly and unequivocally prohibited by Article 2, paragraph 4, of the Charter of the United Nations.”
Venezuela also demanded respect for its airspace, saying it is protected under the rules of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and reaffirmed in the Chicago Convention of 1944, which states that “states have absolute sovereignty over the airspace that covers their territory.”
President Trump has declared that the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela is to be closed “in its entirety” as tensions between both countries escalate.
“To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
On Thanksgiving Day last Thursday, Trump also warned that he would soon begin targeting Venezuelan drug trafficking “by land.”
T&T’s Ministry of Defence issued a statement yesterday morning confirming that Trinidad and Tobago’s airspace remains open to all commercial aircraft.
On Thursday, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez accused the United States of pressuring other countries to prevent their airlines from flying to Venezuela. Her remarks come amid a sharp reduction in air connectivity following the cancellation of more than 30 international flights after an alert issued by Washington.
Speaking during the XIX Russia–Venezuela High-Level Intergovernmental Commission, held virtually, Rodríguez said the Trump administration was attempting to “isolate” the country amid the US military deployment in the Caribbean Sea.
“Once again, the United States Government is pressuring other countries because it believes it can isolate Venezuela. They are pressuring us to prevent airlines from flying to our territory,” she said in remarks broadcast on Venezolana de Televisión.
