Trump Closes Venezuela Airspace With A Chilling Tweet
US President Donald Trump has stated that the airspace surrounding Venezuela should be declared closed.
“To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY,” Trump said in a social media post.
To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2025
The United States does not have the legal right to restrict another country’s airspace, but Trump’s announcement may cause travel confusion and discourage airlines from operating there.
The United States has been increasing its military presence in the Caribbean, which officials claim is to combat drug smuggling.
Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has dismissed US allegations of drug trafficking as a plot to depose him.
ONE jet from CUBA defies Trump shutdown of Venezuela's skies https://t.co/t65jAdgy7Q pic.twitter.com/P74onIyQyo
— RT (@RT_com) November 30, 2025
Venezuela has yet to respond to Trump’s comments. The White House did not immediately return the BBC’s request for comment.
Trump’s remarks come just days after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned airlines about “heightened military activity in and around Venezuela”.
Venezuela prohibited six major international airlines, including Iberia, TAP Portugal, Gol, Latam, Avianca, and Turkish Airlines, from landing on Wednesday after failing to fulfill a 48-hour deadline to resume flights.
The United States has sent the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, and approximately 15,000 troops within striking distance of Venezuela.
It has argued that the deployment, the largest by the US in the region since its invasion of Panama in 1989, is intended to combat drug trafficking.
On Thursday, Trump threatened that US attempts to combat Venezuelan drug trafficking “by land” will begin “very soon”.
US forces have carried out at least 21 strikes on boats they said were carrying drugs, killing more than 80 people.
However, the US has not provided evidence that the boats carried drugs.
The Venezuelan government believes the aim of the US action is to depose Maduro, whose re-election last year was denounced by the Venezuelan opposition and many foreign nations as rigged.
The US has also designated Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns – a group it alleges is headed by Maduro – as a foreign terrorist organisation.
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Labelling an organisation as a terrorist group gives US law enforcement and military agencies broader powers to target and dismantle it.
Venezuela’s foreign ministry has “categorically, firmly, and absolutely rejected” the designation.
Venezuela RIPS 'ASTONISHING' Trump shutting its airspace pic.twitter.com/V2ytUqgV0q
— RT (@RT_com) November 30, 2025
Venezuela’s interior and justice minister Diosdado Cabello, who is alleged to be one of the high-ranking members of the cartel, has long called it an “invention”.
The US state department has insisted that the Cartel de los Soles not only exists, but that it has “corrupted Venezuela’s military, intelligence, legislature, and judiciary”.
Trump Closes Venezuela Airspace With A Chilling Tweet
