Washington warned that it will act “very soon” on land against “Venezuela drug traffickers” and Caracas appealed to the Venezuelan air force’s state of readiness to defend the territory, in an escalation of tension between the two countries.
“You’ve probably realized that people no longer want to deliver [droga] by sea, and we will begin to stop them by land. Furthermore, it’s easier on land, and that will start very soon. We warned them to stop sending poison into our country”said Donald Trump on Thursday in a phone call with military personnel on the occasion of Thanksgiving.
The Republican leader, who did not detail what the land actions would consist of, highlighted the attacks in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific, where US forces killed more than 80 people by destroying more than 20 vessels allegedly linked to drug trafficking, mostly from Venezuela, since September 1st.
The actions were carried out by a naval and land military detachment in the region, which includes the largest military ship in the world, the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, with four thousand soldiers and 75 fighters on board, which the Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, interprets as an attempt to remove him from power.
The Chavista leader asked members of the air force to be “alert, ready and willing” to defend Venezuela’s rightsa.
“I ask you to always be imperturbable in your serenity, alert, ready and willing to defend our rights as a nation, as a free and sovereign homeland, and I know that you will never fail Venezuela, I know that Venezuela is counting on you,” Maduro said on Thursday.
The Venezuelan President made the statements remotely during an event led by Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lópezand by senior military commanders at the Maracay air base, capital of the state of Aragua (northern), to mark the 105th anniversary of the creation of the Venezuelan air force.
On that occasion, the troops carried out a simulation exercise involving the interception of a plane and invading troops.
Sem specify, Padrino López criticized governments that “lend themselves to the imperialist game to militarize the Caribbean” and called on them to stop acting against the feelings of their people.
The Defense Minister made the statement on the same day that US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth visited the USS Gerald R. Ford to thank troops for standing up to drug cartels.
On Wednesday, Hegseth was in the Dominican Republic, whose Government authorized the United States to “provisionally” use two airports as part of the fight against drug trafficking in the region.
The Caribbean region was the scene of demonstrations of B-52H bombers on Monday, the US air force revealed on Wednesday.
Internally, and also due to military maneuvers in the region, Venezuela woke up on Thursday with reduced civil air activity, with Caracas carrying out its threat on Wednesday night to revoke the licenses of the airlines TAP, Iberia, Turkish Airlines, Avianca, Latam Colombia and Gol, which it accused of “joining the terrorist acts” promoted by the US.
Maiquetia International Airport, which serves Caracas, operated on Thursday with a limited travel offer, with only seven departures and seven arrivals scheduled, on the same day that the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which encompasses more than 300 airlines from around the world, urged Venezuelan authorities to reconsider the revocation of flight concessions.
During the 19th edition of the Russia-Venezuela High-Level Intergovernmental Commission, held virtually, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez accused the Trump Administration of trying to isolate the South American country and pressuring others to block airlines from flying to Caracas.
In this context, called for an increase in flights between the Venezuelan capital and Moscow.
Last Friday, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) called for “extreme caution” by airlines when overflying Venezuela and the southern Caribbean, which led to a cascade of flight cancellations to the South American country.
On Thursday, the Portuguese Government warned Venezuela that it would not give in to threats, after the revocation of the TAP flight concession, which has been flying to the country for almost 50 years, while the Spanish airline Iberia said it hoped to resume flights as soon as possible, as soon as all safety conditions for passengers were met.