U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up his threats against Venezuela on Saturday by declaring the country’s airspace “closed,” a warning that heightened fears of imminent military action.
Caracas, which views a large U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean as a pressure campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro, slammed Trump's warning as a "colonialist threat."
"To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers," Trump wrote on social media, "please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY."
He did not elaborate, but after months of deadly U.S. strikes on alleged drug-running boats, speculation is mounting that Washington may launch some sort of military operation on Venezuelan soil.
Trump's warning comes days after U.S. aviation regulators told airlines to use increased caution near Venezuela over the mounting tensions, prompting multiple major carriers to suspend flights.
Maduro's government then issued a ban on the airlines for "joining the actions of state terrorism promoted by the United States government."
A statement by the Venezuelan foreign ministry called the U.S. president's latest remarks a "new extravagant, illegal, and unjustified aggression against the people of Venezuela."
It warned that the airspace disruptions would also mean a halt to repatriation flights of Venezuelan migrants from the United States, a key Trump administration initiative.
Venezuela's military Saturday also conducted exercises along coastal areas, with video broadcast on state TV showing anti-aircraft weapons and other artillery being maneuvered.
Though Trump has not publicly threatened to use force to remove Maduro, he said this week that efforts to halt Venezuelan drug trafficking "by land" would begin "very soon."
Maduro's re-election last year was widely rejected by the international community as fraudulent, while Washington also claims the leftist leader heads an alleged terrorist-designated drug cartel.
A steady buildup of U.S. naval and air assets in the region has seen the world's largest aircraft carrier move to the Caribbean, while American fighter jets and bombers have repeatedly flown off the Venezuelan coast in recent days.
U.S. media reported that, despite the bellicose posturing, Trump and Maduro spoke last week.
The New York Times reported Friday that Trump and Maduro had discussed a possible meeting, while the Wall Street Journal on Saturday said the conversation also included conditions of amnesty if Maduro were to step down.
Amid fears that Trump may launch a major operation in Venezuela, members of U.S. Congress – both Democrats and the president's own Republican Party – have expressed anger that he has not sought legislative approval.
"President Trump's reckless actions towards Venezuela are pushing America closer and closer to another costly foreign war," top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said Sunday on X.
"Under our Constitution, Congress has the sole power to declare war," he added.
Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, until recently a close Trump ally, said similarly: "Reminder, Congress has the sole power to declare war."
However, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham cheered on Trump, writing on X that the president's "strong commitment to end this madness in Venezuela will save countless American lives."
Trump is also facing congressional pressure over recent media reports that the U.S. military launched a second missile at survivors of a strike on an alleged drug boat in September.
Leaders of both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have released separate statements saying they would be investigating the strike, which legal experts say could amount to a war crime.
With Republicans in control of both chambers of Congress, the Trump administration has so far largely escaped probing of its controversial anti-trafficking campaign.
Since the operation began in September, at least 83 people have been killed in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Washington has yet to release evidence that the vessels it targeted were used to smuggle drugs or posed a threat to the United States, and experts say the strikes amount to extrajudicial killings even if they target known traffickers.
