US President Donald Trump has raised the stakes in Washington’s rift with Venezuela by announcing that the skies above and around the country should now be treated as entirely off-limits. In a post aimed at “all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers,” he wrote that the airspace is “closed in its entirety.” Caracas has not responded to the declaration.
The warning comes as the United States steps up its campaign against what it claims are drug networks linked to Venezuela. In recent months, US forces have carried out a series of deadly strikes on vessels they accused of transporting narcotics, resulting in dozens of deaths. The operations have drawn harsh criticism from United Nations experts, who described the killings as extrajudicial. The controversy also pushed the United Kingdom to suspend intelligence sharing with Washington, saying it did not want to support actions that it believed went beyond the original terms of their cooperation.
Trump indicated on Thursday that the US might soon begin pursuing suspected Venezuelan traffickers on land.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro brushed off the threats, saying the country would not be intimidated. Analysts argue that the US framing these operations as anti-drug actions may mask a broader political push aimed at weakening Maduro’s hold on power — a leader Trump has consistently targeted.
Back in August, the Trump administration increased the bounty for information leading to Maduro’s arrest, calling him “one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world.” The offer was raised from $25 million to $50 million.
