Trump declares Venezuelan airspace closed as stand-off escalates

US President Donald Trump said airlines should consider the airspace above and around Venezuela to be closed as his administration continues to threaten more aggressive steps against President Nicolas Maduro’s government over the drug trade.

At the same time, Trump has announced he will pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted and sentenced to 45 years in prison for his role in allowing vast amounts of cocaine into the US.

US forces have been massing off the coast off Venezuela, on the edge of the Caribbean and the Atlantic, as Trump weighs military action that would go beyond US strikes on boats that Washington claims are ferrying narcotics toward the US.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government said: “Such statements represent an explicit threat of force.”Credit: AP

In recent days, Trump has hinted at potential US operations on land in Venezuela, but he has stopped short of specifying whether the US would begin such strikes, or when.

Trump’s vague announcement on Sunday (AEST) about the country’s airspace may prove to be a bid for leverage in any eventual negotiations with Maduro, whether held directly or indirectly. Or it could be a precursor to expanded strikes in the region, which have been carried out so far against boats under suspect legal authority and drawn concern from allies.

“To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY,” Trump wrote in a social post from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford is now in position off the coast of Venezuela.Credit: AP

Venezuela rejected Trump’s “hostile” post and demanded “unrestricted respect” for its airspace, in a government statement.

“Such statements represent an explicit threat of force,” Maduro’s government said. “Venezuela will not accept orders, threats, or interference from any foreign power.” Venezuela also claimed that the US government suspended weekly flights carrying Venezuelan migrants to Caracas.

Trump’s message resembles the concept of a no-fly zone, which is often a precursor to a broader military operation, said Andrei Serbin Pont, president of the Buenos Aires-based research group CRIES, who closely monitors Venezuela’s security issues. “A no-fly zone usually defines the necessary parameters prior to carrying out some type of military operation. They have already been very clear about the possibility of attacks on ground targets.”

Serbin Pont doesn’t see much room for dialogue between Washington and Caracas, as Trump’s communication is aimed at getting Maduro rather than a real negotiation.

US President Donald Trump has hinted at potential US operations on land in Venezuela.Credit: AP

Earlier this week Maduro asked Venezuelans to “give their lives” if needed to defend the nation from “imperialist attacks”. Still, life has carried on normally for most Venezuelans, and the capital is buzzing ahead of Christmas celebrations and people are pouring into stores for Black Friday discounts.

Despite the rising tensions and sporadic supply constraints, Venezuela’s state-led oil industry is operating normally. A handful of foreign oil companies are present in Venezuela, including Chevron, which accounts for about a quarter of national production.

The US in recent months has been intensifying pressure on Caracas, part of a counter-narcotics operation targeting drug trafficking that the Trump administration says is being led by Maduro’s regime.

The Trump administration has formally designated Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organisation, which the US is pointing to as legal authority for certain operations. Venezuela says this is a falsehood to justify an intervention. Experts say this poses legal risks for foreign oil companies.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during a military commemoration last week.Credit: Getty Images

In Trump’s Venezuela campaign, the US has built up its military presence in the region, including with an aircraft carrier and warships, and senior US military officials have been meeting leaders in the Caribbean.

Trump spoke with Maduro last week and the two discussed a possible meeting, although they haven’t made plans for such an event, The New York Times reported.

Airlines began cancelling flights in and out of Venezuela in response to a US Federal Aviation Administration advisory on November 22 telling operators to “exercise caution” amid the escalating standoff between the two countries.

A wave of electromagnetic noise that’s descended over Venezuela amid the US military build-up is interfering with GPS signals in the country and complicating operations for some ride-sharing and food delivery apps.

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez in 2017, before his drug conviction and imprisonment in the US.Credit: AP

At the same time, Trump said he planned to pardon a former president of Honduras who is serving a decades-long US sentence for cocaine trafficking, two days before that nation’s election.

Trump will grant “a Full and Complete Pardon” to Hernandez and set him free, he said on Saturday AEST. The New York Times reports that the news came as a shock not only to Hondurans but also to US authorities who had built a major case and won the conviction.

A US court found last year that when Hernandez was president of Honduras, he received millions of dollars from drug traffickers including Joaquin Guzman Loera, known as El Chapo, the Mexican drug lord.

In return, Hernandez allowed vast amounts of cocaine to pass through Honduras on its way to the US, once boasting that he would “stuff the drugs right up the noses of the gringos”, federal prosecutors told the court.

Bloomberg, staff writers

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